PlantUML

To be able to generate some diagrams, you must have Graphviz software installed on your machine.

Important note about version

PlantUML is now working with GraphViz 2.28 (Here is the link for windows) and 2.26.3.

The last version of GraphViz (2.30.1) may have some issues with PlantUML: if you find something wrong, thanks for sending us a note, or to post a message on the question&answer page.

Default

By default, the dot executable should be:

Windows :
- Firstly in: c:\Program Files\Graphviz*\dot.exe
- Then in: c:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz*\dot.exe
On Linux/Mac OS-X :
- Firstly in: /usr/local/bin/dot
- Then in: /usr/bin/dot

Testing

To have information about where PlantUML is expecting to find dot, you can use the command line:

java -jar plantuml.jar -testdot

You can also use this special diagram description:

@startuml
testdot
@enduml

Environment variable

If you have installed somewhere else Graphviz, you will have to define the environment variable GRAPHVIZ_DOT to the exact location of the dot program. Be carefull, the variable must contain an executable, not a directory.

On Windows

Click on:
My Computer/Properties/Advanced/Environment Variables

Create GRAPHVIZ_DOT to your executable.
For example: d:\example\dot.exe

On Linux/Mac OS-X

setenv GRAPHVIZ_DOT /usr/local/bin/graphviz/dot
export GRAPHVIZ_DOT

Note

You can also define it as a Java Property, by changing some configuration file, or using the -D flag in your java command line.

Command line

Another option is to use the -graphvizdot flag in the command line:

java -jar plantuml.jar -graphvizdot "d:/dummy/dot.exe" file1 "c:/directory2"

Ant

You can also change the path of the dot executable in the Ant task:

<project name="OwnTaskExample" default="main" basedir=".">
  <!-- task definition -->
  <taskdef name="plantuml" classname="net.sourceforge.plantuml.ant.PlantumlTask" classpath="plantuml.jar" />

  <!-- process ./src files -->
  <target name="main">
    <plantuml dir="./src" graphvizDot="/path/dot" />
  </target>
</project>

Testing Graphviz

You should use the lastest version of GraphViz (currently 2.28.0) to generate your diagram.
Older version (for example, 2.16) may not work. If you want to test your version, you can download dottest.txt and stereo.png and type the following command:

dot -Tpng -otest.png dottest.txt

If an image is correctly generated, it means that your GraphViz/dot installation is fine.