This page is part of the Installation and Configuration Guide.

The Fedora Repository requires Java 5 (JDK 1.5) The Fedora Repository needs JDK 1.5 to be installed on your computer. The software is also compatible with JDK 1.6 though you must ensure your environment supports this version. We have only tested on the Sun JDK though other distributions may work. A JRE (Java Runtime Environment) is not enough. JDK 1.5 is the preferred platform because it has been more thoroughly tested with Fedora at this time. JDK 6 is a better platform, because it is faster and more reliable, but may have compatibility issues on some Java EE application servers. JDK 1.4 is no longer supported in Fedora Repository 2 or later.

1. If you are not sure whether you have JDK installed correctly, please confirm by doing the following:
   • Open a command prompt.
     • On Windows: Open your 'Start' menu and select 'Run', then type cmd and click 'OK'. Alternately, you can open a Command Prompt window from the Accessories menu item.
   • Type the following in the command prompt and then press Enter:
     • On Windows: echo %JAVA_HOME%
     • On Unix: echo $JAVA_HOME
   • View the result:
     • If a line is displayed such as C:\Progra~1\Java\jdk1.5.0_17, please check that the letters just before the final numbers are 'jdk'. If you see those letters, the JDK is installed.
     • If nothing is displayed, or you do not see 'jdk' plus some numbers, the JDK is not installed.
2. If you need to install the JDK, follow these instructions:
   • Go to the Java Sun download page.
   • Download the version entitled 'JDK 5 Update XX', where 'XX' stands for some number. (Sun will provide the latest version on that page.)
   • When the download has finished, run the Java installer. At one point, you will be asked to choose a directory to install to. Copy or write this directory down for use later.

     Java 6 The Fedora Repository can be compiled using the Java SE 6 JDK. The Sun Java 1.5 has been set to EOL (end of life) in 2009 by Sun Microsystems. We will be moving to Java 6 as the standard platform as soon as there is sufficient support and testing for Java EE application servers. If you are using the Tomcat-based distribution only, Java SE 6 JDK may be a better platform. We would appreciate feedback from installations using Java EE application servers.

3. On Windows: Please follow these instructions to set your JAVA_HOME environment variable to the directory you where you have just installed the JDK. By default, this directory is under C:\Program Files\Java. Please note that some scripts on Windows may not work correctly from the Windows command line when directories having spaces in their names are encountered. Usually, putting the command in double quotation marks will fix the problem. The JDK can also be installed anywhere in the file system such as C:\Java avoiding spaces in directory names.