Run GroupDocs.Markdown for Java on Linux Leave feedback
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This article explains how to run GroupDocs.Markdown for Java on Linux. The library is pure Java with no native dependencies, so the JAR that runs on Windows runs unchanged on Linux — but two server-specific details are worth getting right: headless mode and fonts.
Install a JDK 8 or later for your distribution:
# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y openjdk-17-jdk
# RHEL / Fedora / CentOS
sudo dnf install -y java-17-openjdk-devel
# Alpine
sudo apk add openjdk17
From your project directory:
mvn clean package
java -jar target/markdown-helloworld-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar
Servers usually have no display. Document rendering touches AWT, so run the JVM in headless mode to avoid HeadlessException:
java -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar target/app.jar
You can also set it in code before any conversion runs:
System.setProperty("java.awt.headless", "true");
Minimal Linux images ship with no fonts at all. Without them, text in converted images and in documents that rely on specific typefaces falls back to a default, which changes the output. Install a base font set:
# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install -y fontconfig fonts-dejavu fonts-liberation
# RHEL / Fedora
sudo dnf install -y fontconfig dejavu-sans-fonts liberation-fonts
# Alpine
sudo apk add fontconfig ttf-dejavu
GroupDocs.Markdown runs in containers with no dependencies beyond a JRE. This multi-stage Dockerfile builds with Maven and runs on a slim JRE image:
FROM maven:3.9-eclipse-temurin-17 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN mvn -q clean package
FROM eclipse-temurin:17-jre
WORKDIR /app
# Fonts are not included in slim JRE images
RUN apt-get update \
&& apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends fontconfig fonts-dejavu fonts-liberation \
&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
COPY --from=build /app/target/*-jar-with-dependencies.jar app.jar
ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-Djava.awt.headless=true", "-jar", "app.jar"]
docker build -t markdown-demo .
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/files:/app/files markdown-demo
GroupDocs.Markdown for Java works on any Linux distribution with a Java SE 8+ runtime, including:
- Ubuntu 20.04+
- Debian 11+
- CentOS 8+, RHEL 8+
- Fedora 36+
- Alpine 3.16+
- Amazon Linux 2023
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