Welcome to NetBeans IDE Merak (release 3.4.1),
a modular, standards-based integrated development environment (IDE), written
in Java. NetBeans is not just an IDE. NetBeans is:
An open source
IDE written in the JavaTM programming
language.
A tools platform
into
which other tools and functionality can be seamlessly integrated
by writing and incorporating modules.
An application
core which can be used as a generic framework to build any kind
of application.
You can find the latest information about this
release on the Release
3.4 pages.
2 What's New In This Release
The Merak release is the first release that has been
managed by the NetBeans Community. Great Thanks to Maxym that proposed to
be the release coodinator. Thanks to all NetBeans Developpers paid by SUN
that worked during their free time for the success of this release.
The Merak release is just a bug fix release. No modification
have been done at level of the API.
What's the difference between the release 3.4 and the
Merak release ?
The Merak release support by default the version 1.5.1 of Ant. No
more extra download necessary, except if you want the Ant documentation.
Therefore, you can add them to the IDE by downloading the Ant Documentation
module from the NetBeans Update Center.
The Help files of the Merak release contains all
last updates that have been done, taking into account all your remarks.
A lot of bugfixing in the CVS, CORE, OPENIDE and
somes other modules...
The complete list of bugfixing implemented
in this release is available in the IDE's installation folder in the
CHANGES.html
file.
3 System Requirement
Since NetBeans is written in pure Java,
it should run on any working implementation of JavaTM2 SDK, Standard Edition.
3.1 Hardware
The hardware requirements
are similar for all platforms, but it may differ slightly for some cases.
The recommended configuration for running the NetBeans IDE
is:
Processor: PII/300 (Windows or Linux),
UltraSPARC II/450 (Solaris), 500MHz Alpha (Open VMS) or equivalent
Note: If your system's memory is lower than the above
recommendation, you should set a lower maximum heap size
in the bin/ide.cfg file. For example, if your system has 64 Mbytes
of memory, you can change the -J-Xmx96mparameter
to -J-Xmx48m.
3.2 Operating System
Any operating system supporting
Java(TM) 2 SDK, Standard Edition. Below is a list of platforms
that the NetBeans IDE can run on. If you know about any other
platform, please let us know.
Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, ME
Solaris 8
Linux - any distribution
OS/2
Open VMS 7.2-1 or later
Mac OS X 10.1.1
HP-UX
3.3 Software
NetBeans requires a Java 2-compatible
JVM. Download the latest version of the appropriate JDK (v. 1.3.x or 1.4.x)
from the following sites:
Mac OS X 10.1.1. The upgrade
from Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.1.1 is available via Apple's Software Update mechanism.
See also the installation
section in this document. More information about using NetBeans
on Mac OS X is available at http://www.netbeans.org/kb/articles/mac.html
4 Installation
4.1 For all platforms
you can download the .zip or the .tar.gz
or the .tar.bz2 archive file and unpack it on
the hard disk using your favorite tool.
Then you must customize the startup parameters to tell the
IDE where to find the SDK. Please read the Launcher
and Startup Parameters section for details.
4.2 On Microsoft Windows platforms,
you can download and run an .exe point-and-click
installer that guides you through the required steps.
If you are running on a Microsoft
Windows system, please note that the installer does not detect
beta versions or later than NetBeans released versions of the JDK.
You can set the -is:javahome <path_to_your_jdk>
parameter just after the Netbeans_IDE_3.4.1.exe
See The Launcher and Startup Parameters
for more information concerning the parameter to give to launcher if
you want to launch NetBeans with another JDK than default one.
4.3 On Unix platforms
Several ".bin" executable Installshield installers are available
for various UNIX platforms. You may need to make these executable before
running :
$ chmod +x NetBeans.bin
$ ./NetBeans.bin
While the installer will search for any installed JDKs, and prompt
you for which NetBeans should use, you can speed the install up by specifying
a JDK on the command line:
$ ./NetBeans.bin -is:javahome <path_to_your_jdk>
4.4 On OpenVMS
Download the OpenVMS NetBeans self-extracting archive
to your OpenVMS system. You may want to put this file into
its own empty subdirectory since documentation and the
actual installable kit will be created there.
Assure your default directory is set to the directory
where the NetBeans archive was downloaded.
Execute the command: $ RUN kit_name
Replace kit_name with the full name of the
self-extracting archive which you just downloaded. The
contents of the archive will now be extracted to your directory.
View the installation documentation which was created
in the extraction process and follow the steps contained in
the guide to complete the installation.
4.5 On Mac OS X
Untar, unzip to extract NetBeans. Note: unzip is
part of the developer tools, so it is not available in a normal installation.
Do not forget to use gnutar instead of tar. Using StuffitExpander
to extract NetBeans can cause problems with truncated filenames
for NetBeans 3.3. For more info see
Bad expansion of .tar.gz on Mac OS X
5 The Launcher and Startup Parameters
5.1 The Launcher
The IDE is run by a launcher. Launchers for several platforms are
located in thebin subdirectory of the installation directory.
5.1.1 For Unix
the Bourne shell script
runide.shis the launcher.
5.1.2 For Microsoft Windows
use the runide.exe
or the runidew.exeexecutable. runide.exe is a Microsoft
Windows console application. When you run runide.exe, a console opens on
the desktop withstderrand stdout output from the
NetBeans IDE. You can type Ctrl-Breakto get a thread dump,
or type Ctrl-C to quit the whole program. runidew.exe
is the executable for running the NetBeans IDE as a Windows application without
a console.
5.1.3 For OS/2
runideos2.cmd is the launcher.
5.1.4 For OpenVMS
runideopenvms.com is the launcher.
5.1.5 For Mac OS/X
To launch NetBeans open the Terminal application and go
to the netbeans/bindirectory.
Start NetBeans in the standard look and feel using the following command: ./runide.sh -jdkhome /Library/Java/Home
The -jdkhome switch can be omitted if you set the environment
variable JAVA_PATH or JDK_HOME to /Library/Java/Home
NetBeans can be started in the Aqua look and feel using: ./runide.sh -jdkhome /Library/Java/Home -ui com.apple.mrj.swing.MacLookAndFeel
-fontsize 10
Note
that settings are incompatible between the Aqua and normal look and feels,
so it is a good idea to have two different user directories
if you want to test both normal and Aqua look and feels.
Use the -userdir switch to select different user directories.
The launcher loads the JVM, builds the IDE's classpath, passes it along with
some default parameters to the JVM, and lets the JVM launch the Java application.
It also restarts the IDE after you have used the Update Center.
5.2 Startup parameters
You can pass startup
parameters to the launcher using the ${IDE_HOME}/bin/ide.cfgfile.
The launcher tries to read this file before it starts parsing the command
line options. You can break the options into multiple lines.
The following options
are available:
-h | -help
print descriptions of common startup parameters.
-jdkhome jdk_home_dir
use the specified version of the Java(TM)
2 SDK instead of the default SDK. By default on Windows systems, the loader
looks into the Windows registry and uses the latest SDK available.
-classic
use the classic JVM, instead of the
default Java HotSpot Client VM.
-cp:p additional_classpath
prepend the specified classpath to
the IDE's classpath. This option is generally not recommended for any
purpose.
-cp | -cp:a additional_classpath
append the specified classpath to the
IDE's classpath. This option is generally recommended only for adding
custom look and feel implementation JARs, which you may instead add
to the NetBeans lib/ext/directory. See the online help
for information on mounting user development libraries.
-Jjvm_flag
pass the specified flag directly to
the JVM.
-uiUI_class_name
use a given class as the IDE's look
and feel.
-fontsizesize
use a given size in points as the basic
font size for the IDE user interface.
-localelanguage[:country[:variant]]
use the specified locale.
-userdiruserdir
explicitly specify the userdir, which
is the location in which user settings are stored. If this option
is not used on UNIX the location is ${HOME}/.netbeans/3.4.
On Microsoft Windows systems, the default is .netbeans\3.4
beneath your default Windows profile area (e.g. c:\Documents
and Settings\yourlogin).
-J-Dnetbeans.winsys.dnd=true
enable|disable drag and drop support
in the IDE. This feature is turned off by default because of some bugs that
make the behavior slow and unpredictable.
-J-Dnetbeans.popup.linuxhack=true
under some Linux window managers, this
option fixes bug #12496, in
which contextual menus appear in the upper left corner of the screen.
-J-Dnetbeans.tab.close.button.enabled=false
Remove the close button from tabs in
the Source Editor, Explorer, and other windows.
6 Compatibility/Upgrading
Nothing has been changed concerning the
compatibility and the upgrading since NetBeans 3.4.
When you first run the NetBeans IDE Release 3.4.1 you can import the settings that you used
in a previous installation of the IDE. These settings include project-specific settings
and global options. If you choose not to import settings from a previous release, the
IDE begins with a set of default settings. The Import Wizard guides you through the choices.
You can import settings from the NetBeans IDE v. 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4. You can also import
settings from Sun ONE Studio (formerly Forte for Java) software versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0.
In the NetBeans IDE Release 3.2 or above and Forte for Java 3.0 or above, you can find the user
directory when running the software. Choose Help | About, and click the Detail tab.
Though it is possible to import settings from a previous IDE installation into
the NetBeans IDE Release 3.4.1, it is not possible to import settings from the NetBeans
IDE Release 3.4.1 into an earlier IDE release.
7 Known Problems
The following are some of the major unresolved
issues for this release:
22152,
22789
Description: Large and complex XML files open very slowly in the tree editor
and might cause OutOfMemory errors.
Workaround: Open such files with the Edit command to edit them in the text
editor instead of the tree editor.
12496
Description: When right-clicking a node, the contextual menu appears
in the upper-left corner of the screen. This bug only occurs with some
Linux window managers.
Workaround: In the IDE's installation directory, open the bin directory.
Open the ide.cfg file and add the following option:
-J-Dnetbeans.popup.linuxhack=true
This option only works on some window managers.
11020
Description: There are startup errors if you have an incompatible XML
parser in the classpath.
Workaround: remove any stray XML parsers from your classpath (often from
your ${JDK_HOME}/jre/lib/ext directory).
17358
Description: If you have version 1.4.3 or earlier of xerces.jar in your ${JDK_HOME}/jre/lib/ext
directory, the IDE does not start up.
Workaround: Remove the copy of xerxes.jar from your ${JDK_HOME}/jre/lib/ext
directory.
21621
Description: If a project that contains opened GUI forms is imported from
NetBeans 3.2.x, the Component Palette might be hidden when the Form Editor
window is opened for the first time.
Workaround: Choose View | Form Editor to display the component palette.
23029:
The storage format of the table model for the JTable component has been changed.
It is not possible to use earlier versions of the IDE to open forms with
JTable components that were created in NetBeans 3.4.
25753:
Description: If you run an Ant target in the IDE multiple times, an out
of memory error may occur. This error occurs on JDK 1.3.1.
Workaround: Run the IDE on JDK 1.4.
21180
Description: Compilation errors are printed to wrong tab in the Output window
when running an Ant script. This may occur if you are using the "classic"
or "modern" compiler and you are running on JDK 1.4.
Workaround: Use a different JDK (including JDK 1.4.1) or use a different
compiler, such as external javac or Jikes.
25907,
23135
Description: If a web module contains JSP pages that have the same name but
are stored in different directories, then compilation errors result when
the "Build All" command is used. This problem occurs because the Tomcat JSP
compiler creates two servlets that have the same pathname.
Workaround: Either compile the JSP pages one by one, or set the IDE integration
mode to minimal. See the Tomcat Plugin help page entitled Adding a Tomcat
4.0 Installation for more information about setting the IDE integration
mode.
20877,
20384
(This problem applies if you use the JSP Tag Library Editor, which is available
from the NetBeans Alpha Update Center.)
Description: Tag library JARs cannot be replaced in the WEB-INF/lib
directory after parsing and executing JSPs in the relevant web module. The
JSP parser, compiler, and/or executor sometimes hold on to pointers to tag
library JARs in the WEB-INF/lib directory. On Windows, the result
is that JARs intermittently cannot be deleted, resulting in a "Cannot delete
file..." exception. On Solaris, the JARs can be deleted, but when they are
replaced with new JARs, the compiler "sees" the old versions of the JARs.
To get the correct JAR replacement behavior, you must restart the IDE.
Workaround: Develop tag libraries by referencing the TLDs and tag handler
classes directly, without packaging the tag library into a JAR file until
the end of the development cycle.
Create the tag library in the WEB-INF/lib directory
and do all development there.
Set the tag handler generation root to the web module's WEB-INF/classes
directory.
To use the tag libraries from a JSP page, either directly refer
to the taglib URI as /WEB-INF/lib/mytaglib.tld or set an alias
in the deployment descriptor with a tag library entry.
21326
Description: A JAR recipe file can be corrupted if you switch projects or
move files or filesystems that the JAR recipe file refers to.
26420
Description: When testing or debugging web applications, an exception (org.apache.jasper.JasperException
or javax.servlet.ServletException: duplicate class definition)
may be thrown. It will appear in the server log file and/or in the web browser
window. This bug is a consequence of Tomcat bug 6907.
Workaround: Restart the Tomcat web server.
25934
Description: The Goto Declaration command (Alt-G) sometimes works very slowly
on some systems.
11637
Description: When using the import management tool on inner classes, the
name of the outer class is stripped from the reference to the inner class.
22856
Description: The Fix and Continue feature does not work correctly if you
change code in the main method. You are not given the option to use modified
code. The class is recompiled, but it is not possible to continue debugging.
Workaround: Make necessary changes in the main method and then restart the
debugger session.
22481
Description: After changing font and line height correction settings, the
spacing between the line numbers does not match the spacing of the lines
in the Diff window.
22533
Description: After setting the Check Out Files as Read Only option as the
default in the advanced dialog box for CVS commands in a generic VCS filesystem,
the new default is not retained when the IDE is restarted.
25263,
25259,
23846,
25271
Description: When importing projects that have mounted generic VCS filesystems
from a NetBeans 3.2, a number of problems occur. For example, the Versioning
Explorer command does not work and some settings are not preserved.
Workaround: Unmount and then remount all VCS filesystems.
26324
Description: When running the IDE on JDK 1.4 and using the Windows look and
feel, the search highlighting in the Help window obscures the text it is
highlighting.
Workaround: Use a different JDK or look and feel.
Use the Issuezilla
bug tracking system for checking currently open bugs.
8 Documentation
Documentation is provided
for the NetBeans IDE in the form of online help. To access all of the available
online help, choose Help | Contents.
9 More Information
There is extensive information on the NetBeans
project website, http://www.netbeans.org/.
Included on the website are a FAQ and instructions on how to subscribe to
mailing lists where you can ask questions, post comments, or help others.
As NetBeans is an open-source project, you can get
access to the source code, bug database, and much more at http://www.netbeans.org/.
