Tomcat and JAVA_HOME

[Suhas Wadadekar]

Hi,

I was setting up Tomcat on my machine. When I ran startup.bat, it complained about JRE_HOME or JAVA_HOME not set.
So, I set JRE_HOME to a JRE folder. DIDNT WORK
Next, removed JRE_HOME environment variable and added JAVA_HOME and set it's value to the JDK folder. WORKED
Now, I run startup.bat and here's what I see in the cmd window
Using CATALINA_BASE: C:\Apache Tomcat
Using CATALINA_HOME: C:\Apache Tomcat
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: C:\Apache Tomcat\temp
Using JRE_HOME: C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_04

Really?? I thought I REMOVED JRE_HOME variable and added JAVA_HOME variable that made it work. Why does it say Using JRE_HOME?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Suhas.

[Misha Ver]

Suhas, check catalina.bat for explanation

rem JRE_HOME Must point at your Java Runtime installation. Defaults to JAVA_HOME if empty

[Tim Holloway]

Although there's rumor that this is changing, currently you are required to set JAVA_HOME to point to a JDK, not a JRE. If I'm not mistaken, that's because it needs the "javac" program to compile JSPs. So if it's actually saying "JRE" in the console messages, technically it's inaccurate. I haven't been noticing myself.

[Suhas Wadadekar]

Thanks Misha, Tim.

I found the line in catalina.bat that you mentioned.
I also found this in catalina.bat

  echo Using JRE_HOME:        %JRE_HOME%
goto java_dir_displayed
:use_jdk
echo Using JAVA_HOME:       %JAVA_HOME%
:java_dir_displayed  

Shouldn't it echo Using JAVA_HOME instead of Using JRE_HOME, if JRE_HOME was not set or empty?

[Tim Holloway]

This is what catalina.sh says:

#   JAVA_HOME       Must point at your Java Development Kit installation.
#                   Required to run the with the "debug" or "javac" argument.
#
#   JRE_HOME        Must point at your Java Development Kit installation.
#                   Defaults to JAVA_HOME if empty.

[Suhas Wadadekar]

Ok. Thanks Tim. I am trying to produce Using JAVA_HOME message. I'll give it a try