Trouble using the jar command

If the java command is used, I get the help data
If the java -version is used, I get the version info
If the jar command is used, I get unknown command.
Why is that?

I'm running XP, and I get the same thing. If I include the entire path for jar, then I get the help info. Odd.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
 
C:\>jar
'jar' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
 
C:\>j2sdk1.4.2_04\bin\jar
Usage: jar {ctxu}[vfm0Mi] [jar-file] [manifest-file] [-C dir] files ...
Options:
    -c  create new archive
    -t  list table of contents for archive
    -x  extract named (or all) files from archive
    -u  update existing archive
    -v  generate verbose output on standard output
    -f  specify archive file name
    -m  include manifest information from specified manifest file
    -0  store only; use no ZIP compression
    -M  do not create a manifest file for the entries
    -i  generate index information for the specified jar files
    -C  change to the specified directory and include the following file
If any file is a directory then it is processed recursively.
The manifest file name and the archive file name needs to be specified
in the same order the 'm' and 'f' flags are specified.
 
Example 1: to archive two class files into an archive called classes.jar:
       jar cvf classes.jar Foo.class Bar.class
Example 2: use an existing manifest file 'mymanifest' and archive all the
           files in the foo/ directory into 'classes.jar':
       jar cvfm classes.jar mymanifest -C foo/ .

C:\>

Perhaps a Microsoft "feature" for discouraging Java developers? (Not that they'd do such a thing, mind you!)

Hi there, Jeff and Sonny !!

I rarely use XP, but I have the PATH and CLASSPATH environment variables set something like this:

PATH=C:\windows\system32;c:\j2sdk1.4.2_05\bin
CLASSPATH=C:\j2sdk1.4.2_05\jre\lib\rt.jar:.

You could do this for every DOS terminal you open by setting them in the System Properties->Advanced Options->Environment Variables.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Luis F

Hi, Luis -

Actually, I already have my path set. I confirmed that by running the "java" and "javac" commands, which are in the same directory as the "jar" command. If the path were not set, the first two commands would not run.

Usually I run all my command line stuff from batch files anyway so that I have copies of my commands handy, so this is the first time I've seen this issue.

That's truly bizarre. I'm on XP as well, and when I run java or jar from a random folder, they both work. I have the PATH set just as you do. I'm using 1.4.2_05 though, if that makes a difference.

You have installed the JRE and not the SDK.
The JRE includes the 'java' executable; but not the 'jar' executable.

Hi, Tony -

I don't know who you're addressing, but in case I'm the intended recipient: I have both the SDK installed and the JRE. If I only had the JRE, I could not use the javac command.

David: In which way should it make a difference to use j2sdk1.4.2_05 or j2sdk1.4.2_04?

Jeff: you didn't tell us of your PATH. Perhaps there is a ms-Java installed, which is found, but not your installation?

Luis:
Setting JAVA_HOME isn't a bad idea as well - though unrelated to 'jar not found'.

CLASSPATH=C:\j2sdk1.4.2_05\jre\lib\rt.jar:.

AFAIK you needn't set the classpath to rt.jar - perhaps depending on JAVA_HOME , in your case:

No MS Java because I would get different version information with the java -version command.

Paths are properly set and working fine except for this one utility.

I agree that it looks and acts like a path problem, but everything else in that directory works. I'm not going to spend any more time on it because I do all my jar/compile/run processing through batch files which use the full pathname because I have to test under multiple or specific compilers or runtime engines.

Thanks for the help though.

Originally posted by Stefan Wagner:
David: In which way should it make a difference to use j2sdk1.4.2_05 or j2sdk1.4.2_04?

I'm not saying that it should make a difference -- just that it might. I've never experienced that problem, though I don't ever jar from the command line, only through Ant.

David: In which way could it make a difference to use j2sdk1.4.2_05 or j2sdk1.4.2_04?

Originally posted by Stefan Wagner:
David: In which way could it make a difference to use j2sdk1.4.2_05 or j2sdk1.4.2_04?

There could have been an error when packaging 1.4.2_04: maybe they put the "jar" executable in the wrong directory (so it isn't in the path) or misnamed. Unlikely, but that would do it.

I mentioned it so that if someone for whom "jar" doesn't work has the same JDK version, they know to look at their environment before suspecting the JDK.

JRE installations can sometimes override the MS java and javaw in your Windows directory with their own versions.
If that happens (some 1.4 versions do it, some don't I think) you'll end up being able to run java but not javac and jar without setting the path and getting the version you expect.

Set your path to include the J2SDK bin directory.