The yum repos for Fedora 12 contain some older version of Netbeans that fail to load out of the box. Moreover, php development is non-existent in the parallel universe of people who create repos for Fedora 12, and we have to live through it somehow…
Firstly, download the install script form the project site, I chose a php-only version.
Prepare and install:
sudo yum -y groupinstall "Java" mv netbeans-6.8-ml-php-linux.sh ~/software cd ~/software sudo ./netbeans-6.8-ml-php-linux.sh
The installer runs at this stage, install everything with the default options. You will see the Netbeans menu item in Development, but this is still non-functional.
gedit ~/.bash_profile
Locate the PATH line and make it look like mine (if not done before):
... PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin:/sbin:$HOME/bin:$HOME/bin/ioncube export PATH ...
Then:
gedit ~/bin/netbeans.sh
Paste the following and save:
#!/bin/sh export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit /usr/local/netbeans-6.8/bin/netbeans --fontsize 10 --nosplash --laf javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel -J-Dswing.aatext=true -J-Dswing.metalTheme=ocean -J-Dawt.useSystemAAFontSettings=on
The above switches fonts anti-aliasing on and does some more good stuff. Edit the menu (yes, folks, KDE is back):
Launch and enjoy.
Netbeans is my final stop IDE for php 5.3. Zend Studio 5.5.1 I have been using for years and even had the paid license does not support 5.3 and the latter Studios for Eclipse are really not worth of mentioning.