# Prerequisite requirements for the help system

When you set up the IBM® Eclipse Help System, make sure that your workstation, operation system, browser, and hardware meet the requirements described in this topic.

## Browser requirements

To work with the IBM Eclipse Help System, you can install Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or 7.0, or Firefox 2.0 or 3.0. To ensure that all the functions of this version of the IBM Eclipse Help System are usable, you must enable cookies and JavaScript in the browser and disable the browser's function of blocking pop-up windows.

## Operating system environment requirements

To work with the IBM Eclipse Help System, you must install an IBM Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 6.0. See the following table for detailed requirements.

Table 1. Operating system environment requirements
IBM Eclipse Help System version | Operating systems | Operating system and JRE requirements
--- | --- | ---
IBM Eclipse Help System for Microsoft Windows 32-bit | Windows XP Professional Intel 32-bit | This version of the IBM Eclipse Help System includes an embedded IBM JRE. You can remove it from the package if you do not want to keep the embedded JRE. You must have JRE 6.0 installed on your system to run the IBM Eclipse Help System.
IBM Eclipse Help System for Linux | Red Hat Linux Enterprise 5 Intel32-bit | This version of the IBM Eclipse Help System includes an embedded IBM JRE. You can remove it from the package if you do not want to keep the embedded JRE. You must have IBM JRE 6.0 on your system to run the IBM Eclipse Help System. On these operating systems, you can open the help system in the base mode through the Konqueror browser. To display bi-directional characters, double-byte characters, or multi-byte characters in the help system, install the corresponding font on the system and set the font as the browser's display font. To support multiple languages, set the system locale to UTF-8 before starting the help system.
IBM Eclipse Help System for AIX | AIX 5.3 PPC 64-bit | This version of the IBM Eclipse Help System includes an embedded IBM JRE. You can remove it from the package if you do not want to keep the embedded JRE. You must have IBM JRE 6.0 installed on your system to run the IBM Eclipse Help System.

## Supported customization

You can configure the help system with the plugin_customization.ini file. It is under the main product plugin. You can set it in the start script.

You can also change configuration parameters by editing the org.eclipse.help.base_<version number>/preferences.ini file under the eclipse/plugins directory, though default configuration is highly recommended.

You can customize your help system by modifying the preferences.ini file.

Note: Do not modify the following parameter always_external_browser; otherwise the help system might not work properly.

always_external_browser
  For Microsoft Windows operating systems, the default configuration of this parameter is `always_external_browser=true`. When you start the help system in the stand-alone mode, this setting helps you open the default browser of the operating system instead of the browser embedded in the help system. You do not need to set `always_external_browser=true` for the operating systems other than Windows.

Parent topic: Viewing information in the help system