JBuilder 3: Building Java Apps Under Linux - page 3

Freely Available: JBuilder 3 Foundation for Linux

Prior to installing JBuilder, you must install the Java Developer Kit and make sure that the java command is in your command path. The JBuilder installation programs require java to run, so you won't get much further without installing the JDK.

To install JBuilder, run the install.bin script. On the CD-ROM, this is located in:

sol_linux/foundation/no_vm/install.bin

You'll be asked a number of questions. Before the graphical installer starts up, you're asked where you installed the Java Developer Kit, and presented with a list of all locations where then installation script found the java command. It correctly located where I'd installed the 1.2.2 JDK. Watch out if you have another version of Java installed, as JBuilder requires a 1.2.2 JDK specifically. For example, with Red Hat Linux, you may have the Kaffe Java runtimes installed, and so have a second java command in the path.

Like most commercial software, the JBuilder CD comes with a serial number and authorization key. This is another reason the CD-ROM is more convenient than downloading the software yourself, since there's no need to contact Borland to get a key to the software.

The installation ran a professional-looking wizard-like program, guiding through the installation process step by step.

By default, JBuilder installs in /usr/local/jbuilder30. Pick any location you want, but you'll need to know where to find the jbuilder command to run the IDE.

Note that the installation program does not install the JBuilder documentation. That's a separate step described in the main HTML file in the root directory of the CD-ROM and on the Web here.

JBuilder's documentation is extensive and fills about 70 MB of disk space when uncompressed. It includes the basic Java API documentation along with a lot of information on Jbuilder itself.

To install the documentation, first ensure that the java command is in your path, as this installation program uses Java, just like the main JBuilder installation program. Then run the install.bin script for the documentation package. On the CD-ROM, you can run following command from the top-level CD-ROM directory:

sh sol_linux/docs/install.bin

Chances are good that the java command is not in the command path for the root user, but will probably install JBuilder to a directory like /usr/local, which is restricted. To get around this, you can log in as root, allow write access to the /usr/local/jbuilder30/doc directory, and then install the documentation under your normal user login.

I didn't want to extend the path for the root user, so I installed the documentation under my normal user login.

If you follow this route, though, the installation program won't properly guess where you installed JBuilder, so you need to type in the path of /usr/local/jbuilder30 or wherever you installed JBuilder. Even though I installed JBuilder in the default location (when logged in as root), because I tried to install the documentation under my own user ID, it guessed the location incorrectly.

In fact, I didn't have to worry about the root user's command path, because I used the su command to switch to the super user from my normal login rather than login separately as root. Therefore, the java command worked fine.

You can also load API documentation for the Borland open tools classes onto hard disk. These classes have some interesting code, including a set of wizard classes useful for many applications. Borland designed JBuilder to be extensible and you use Borland's Open Tools for this.

In addition to the extensive online help, JBuilder comes with a directory of PDF files on the CD-ROM.