Installing OpenBUGS 3.2.3 on Windows, Linux/Ubuntu, and Mac

Whenever taking a higher education, I’m shocked by how poorly documentation for critical software is maintained. Hopefully this article will help anyone else trying to get OpenBUGS working on their Linux machine. Unfortunately OpenBUGS is a discontinued software, but sure as heck my Bayesian Statistics course is still using it.

Windows

This worked for me on Windows 11, but your mileage may vary (especially since it hasn’t been under development for a while).

1. Download the installer executable from here. (If you don’t trust me, you can find the same installer from here).

2. Extract the file.

3. Run the installer.

Linux

I’ve only started using this program, so I’m not sure if everything is supported on Linux. Use at your own risk!

WINE

Unfortunately linux does not enjoy a native GUI experience for OpenBUGS. The best I’ve found to progress is using WINE with the Windows version.

Installation Instructions

1. Download OpenBUGS323.zip . (If you don’t trust me, you can find the same compressed OpenBUGS323.zip from here).

2. Extract the folder to OpenBUGS323/

3. Follow the instructions for your distribution to download and install WINE.

4. CD into your OpenBUGS323 folder

5. Run wine OpenBUGS.exe

Note: If your WINE app is rendering really, really small you can run winecfg in the terminal which will open a configuration window. Open the Graphics tab and alter the “Screen resolution” slider until you get to a size that works for you.

If you are using Ubuntu, you can create a custom launcher for it by following these instructions. You can make the openbugs.desktop file similar to how I made mine. Make sure to set your Exec command to match where your OpenBUGS.exe file is located :

[Desktop Entry]
Name=OpenBUGS
Comment=Launch OpenBUGS
Keywords=openbugs;stats;statistics;
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;
Exec=wine /home/michael/Documents/Applications/OpenBUGS323/OpenBUGS.exe
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/ghelp;x-scheme-handler/help;x-scheme-handler/info;x-scheme-handler/man;

Native Linux (CLI only)

I did some investigation into the official command line interface for future experimentation and wanted to share it with you below. I also believe this only works on Intel processors.

Installation Instructions

1. Download the tar.gz OpenBugs file.

2. Extract the file either via your OS’s built in toolset, or (if you’re feeling spicy) run the following commands in the terminal:

   1. gzip -d OpenBUGS-3.2.3.tar.gz

   2. tar -xvzf OpenBUGS-3.2.3.tar

3. CD into the directory

   1. cd OpenBUGS-3.2.3

4. Run ./configure

   1. If you get an error saying “In file included from OpenBUGSCli.c:2:

      /usr/include/stdio.h:27:10: fatal error: bits/libc-header-start.h: No such file or directory” you will need to install gcc-multilib

      1. sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib

5. Run make

6. Run sudo make install

For more detailed installation instructions, review the README or INSTALL files located in the OpenBUGS-3.2.3 file.

Usage Instructions

The command OpenBUGS should be accessible anywhere in your terminal. I would recommend reading through the README and man OpenBUGS commands to get a gist of how it works. You can open an interactive interpreter by running OpenBUGS without any arguments.

Mac

I haven’t tested this, however the installation instructions are very similar to the linux + WINE ones that I listed above. Here is what I’ve found may work for you (courtesy of sooahnshin on github and Zero Grau). Note that this may also only work on Intel processors (maybe ones with Apple silicon + the Rosetta layer?).

1. Download the installer executable from here. (If you don’t trust me, you can find the same installer from here.

2. Extract the .exe installer from the zip file.

3. Download and install Homebrew.

4. Open the terminal and run brew install wine

5. In your terminal, to the Downloads folder where you downloaded and extracted the installer exe file.

6. Run wine OpenBUGS323setup.exe

7. Theoretically this should have installed the app. Good luck!