Before attempting to build Electric from the java.net, you must have these tools installed on your computer:

1. JDK 1.5 or later (a JRE is sufficient for running Electric, but a JDK is necessary to build it).
2. Subversion. This is the source-code control system.
3. Apache Maven either version 3.0 or version 2.2.1 from maven.apache.org.

The following variable should be defined:
JAVA_PATH path to JDK root directory

Next, download the latest sources using Subversion. The first time you do this, issue these commands:
`cd WORK-DIR`
`svn --username USERNAME checkout https://svn.java.net/svn/electric~svn/trunk/electric`
`cd electric`
Once the code has been downloaded, it can be updated with these commands:
`cd WORK-DIR/electric`
`svn update`

Next, compile the sources and install jars with Electric binary components into the Maven local repository. The default location of the Maven local repository on Unix systems is ~/.m2/repository
`mvn -DskipTests=true install`

Next run the Electric:
`WORK-DIR/electric/electric-distribution/target/electric-${project.version}.app/
bin/electric`
or
`WORK-DIR/electric/electric-distribution/target/electric-${project.version}.app/
bin/electric.bat`

If your design is large and you need more memory, you can request a larger heap size with this command:
`set ELECTRIC_OPTS="-Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m"`