2.4: PharoLauncher

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PharoLauncher is a tool that helps you download and manage Pharo images. It is very useful for getting new versions of Pharo (as well as updates to the existing versions that contain important bug fixes). It also gives you access to images preloaded with specific libraries that make it very easy to use those tools without having to manually install and configure them.

PharoLauncher can be found on SmalltalkHub at http://smalltalkhub.com/#!/~Pharo/PharoLauncher together with installation instructions and download links depending on your platform. PharoLauncher is basically composed of two columns.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): PharoLauncher - GUI.

After installing PharoLauncher and opening it (like you would do for any Pharo image), you should get a GUI similar to Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\).

The left column lists images that live locally on your machine (usually in a shared system folder). You can launch any local image directly (either by double-clicking, or by selecting it and pressing the Launch button). A right-click context menu provides several useful functions like copying and renaming your images, as well as locating them on the file system.
The right column lists Templates, which are remote images available for download. To download a remote image, select it and click the Create image button (located on the top right, next to the Refresh template list button).

You can use your own local images with PharoLauncher, in addition to working with the images you donwloaded. To do so, simply ensure that your .image and its associated .changes files are placed in a folder (with the same name as your image) in your default image location. You can find the location in the PharoLauncher settings.