Excelsior JET compiles your applications for a particular J2SE version, such as 1.3.1_06 or 1.5.0_01. You can set up JET to work with multiple J2SE versions and switch between them.
The process of JET installation is therefore two-step: first, you install the product itself and then you precompile Java 2 platform classes from a particular version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), turning them into JET runtime DLLs. Later, you may precompile platform classes for other J2SE versions. See Profiles for details.
| CPU: | Intel Pentium III or compatible at 800 MHz or higher |
| RAM: | 256MB minimum, 512MB or more recommended for J2SE 5.0 projects |
| Disk space: | 200MB minimum |
| Note: Creation of a new J2SE 5.0 profile requires up to 650MB extra for temporary use. | |
| Display: | The JET Control Panel and JetPackII graphical tools require display resolution of 1024x768x256c minimum (HiColor recommended). If such resolution is not available, the product may still be used in the command-line mode. |
| Operating system: | Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003, or 98 |
| JRE: | Sun J2RE 5.0, 1.4.2 or 1.3.1, Standard Edition |
Note: Before starting installation on Windows NT, 2000, or XP, it is recommended that you log on with administrator authority.
JET is distributed as a self-installing package. To begin installation, simply launch the EXE file you have downloaded or received on CD and follow the on-screen prompts.
After successful installation, the JET Setup program will be invoked automatically to let you precompile platform classes for the J2SE version(s) you are using (see Profiles.)
Before you begin using JET for the optimization of your applications, you need to precompile Java 2 platform classes into a set of JET runtime DLLs. You can do that using the JET Setup program, which is launched automatically at the end of JET installation process. Later, you access it by selecting the JET Setup item from the Excelsior JET Start Menu folder.
Excelsior JET supports the Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism. You specify the jars with overriding classes before creating a set of runtime DLLs for the given JRE version.
The set of JET runtime DLLs for the given pair (JRE version, endorsed jars) is called a profile. You may create multiple profiles and switch between them according to your applications’ compatibility requirements.
Upon startup, JET Setup automatically invokes the new profile creation wizard if no profiles are present (i.e. JET has just been installed or all profiles have been previously deleted.)
Otherwise, the main Profile Management screen shall display:
Each item in the list of profiles contains a status tag, the exact JRE version number, the directory in which the respective JRE is installed, and the names of jar files that contain classes overriding endorsed standards, if any were specified during profile creation / Moving the mouse over an item displays a tooltip with full pathnames of those jar files./ .
Tags have the following meanings:
To create a new profile, click New. The new profile creation wizard shall display.
To change the active profile, select a profile marked as Ready, click Activate and click Finish to exit JET Setup.
To repair a Damaged profile, select it from the list and click Repair. If recompilation of Java 2 platform classes is necessary, time and disk space estimations will be displayed. Make sure you have enough disk space, close all applications you do not need at the moment and click Next to begin compilation.
To delete a profile you no longer need, select it from the list and click Delete.
To exit JET Setup, click Finish. If no profile is marked Active, a message box shall display, urging you to activate a profile.
The wizard scans your system registry for installed Java Runtime Environments. The list of all JREs found on your system is then displayed:
Note: The Sun License Agreement prohibits redistribution of the JRE that is installed in the Java 2 Development Kit directory. Such JREs do not appear in the list collected by JET Setup. It is recommended to use JET with a redistributable copy of the JRE, typically installed under the “Program Files” directory on your system drive.
If the JRE with which you intend to use JET is not subject to the above note, but still does not appear in the list, it usually means that that JRE was not properly installed, but simply copied from another system, or was moved after installation, so the respective registry keys do not exist or point to wrong directories. Click Browse and select the directory containing the desired copy of the JRE.
If you do not want to select endorsed API jars click Next. The confirmation screen shall display (see Compilation). Otherwise select the respective checkbox.
According to the Sun Microsystems documentation for Java 2 version 1.4 and above, endorsed standards are APIs included in the Java 2 Platform but defined through a process other then the Java Community Process. As a result, newer versions of such APIs may become available between Java 2 Platform releases. The Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism is the only “official” way for vendors to use such newer versions of endorsed standards in their Java applications (you may not use the BOOTCLASSPATH feature in a production enviroment.)
For details, see Sun Java 2 SDK documentation.
If you have selected the Override Endorsed Standards checkbox when choosing the JRE, the Endorsed Standards screen shall display after you click Next:
Choose one of the following options:
As you make your selections, the listbox at the bottom is updated to display the jars that would be searched for overriding classes if you proceed to the compilation now. The listbox is read-only unless you select the Specify particular JARs option.
After you choose the JRE and optionally make endorsed standards override selections, JET Setup displays a confirmation screen:
Review your selections and click Next to begin compilation. The compilation screen with progress indicators shall display:
Depending on the JRE version (1.3 or 1.4) and your system configuration, the compilation process may take from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours. Upon success, the wizard shall display an information screen. Click Finish to return to the Profile Management window.
Excelsior periodically issues updates to the Excelsior JET product which fix bugs, add support for the latest JRE microversions and minor feature enhancements. The JET Setup tool includes an update manager that enables you to install and apply product updates, rollback to previous update levels and select custom combinations of updates.
The set of files constituting the product is split into logical components, such as compiler, runtime, graphical tools and utilities, samples, documentation, and so on. When a defect is resolved in one of the components, the engineering team may issue a hotfix containing the corrected version of that component.
Since components are dependent on each other, a hotfix may include two or more updated components, for instance, a fix in the compiler module that emits object files may require changes in the linker.
Hotfixes are always cumulative: a component included in a hotfix is built from sources containing fixes for all bugs addressed by previously issued hotfixes containing that component. This rule substantially simplifies update management.
Hotfixes are available on-demand. If you report a particular problem that is already resolved through a hotfix, the support team will email that hotfix to you.
A Maintenance Pack is essentially a hotfix for all components updated since the initial release of the given version of the product. Maintenance Packs are announced through mailing lists and are made available for download.
To minimize download size, any hotfix issued after the latest Maintenance Pack requires prior installation of that Maintenance Pack.
An update is distributed as an executable file. When run, it tries to determine the location of the respective version of Excelsior JET on your system. It then unpacks the files constituting the update into a special location inside the JET directory and invokes JET Setup to apply the update.
Note: Updates that make changes in the compiler and runtime are most likely to invalidate the currently available JET profiles. When applying such update, JET Setup backs up the existing profiles and runs the profile creation wizard automatically to let you create new profiles. If you plan to install another update (e.g. a hotfix issued after the Maintenance Pack you just installed), click Cancel.
Once you have installed one or more product updates, you can rollback to any update level or return to the latest level at any time as follows:
Select Manage JET Updates in the Excelsior JET Start Menu. This will display the basic interface of the Update Manager:
It displays the current update level, such as “jet-350-mp2”. To move one step back or forth in your update installation history, click Undo or Redo respectively. Do that repeatedly until the desired configuration of updates is displayed as current and click Next. JET Setup will display the set of profiles available for the configuration you have selected. or will invoke the profile creation wizard automatically if there are no such profiles.
If an Excelsior support engineer has advised you to select a particular combination of updates, do the following:
Select Manage JET Updates in the Excelsior JET Start Menu, and click Advanced. This will display the advanced Update Manager interface:
Use checkboxes to select the combination of updates suggested by Excelsior support and click Next.
Each time you install an update that invalidates the currently set up profiles, JET Setup backs up those profiles into a subdirectory of your Excelsior JET installation so as to enable rollback. Profiles occupy dozens of megabytes of disk space, so you may wish to remove profiles for update levels to which you do not plan to revert.
To remove backed-up profiles, run Manage JET Updates from the Excelsior JET Start Menu, click Advanced and then click Cleanup. This will display the list of profile backup directories:
Selecting a directory displays the description of the respective backup configuration. Click Cleanup to remove the selected directory and its contents. Click Close when you are done with cleanup.
To access JET Setup functionality from the command line, invoke the jetsetup utility with one or more of the following options:
Run in the batch mode. Without this option, JET Setup GUI will be displayed.
Inititates creation of a new profile. path-to-JRE is the pathname of the directory containing the JRE for the new profile, for instance:
jetsetup -batch -jre "E:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03"
dir-list is a semicolon-separated list of directories containing jar files overriding endorsed standards. Ignored if the option -jre is not specified or the option -endorsed-jars is specified.
dir-list is a semicolon-separated list of jar files overriding endorsed standards. Ignored if the option -jre is not specified.
If this option is specified, the option -endorsed-dirs is ignored.
Displays the list of currently available profiles.
Activates the profile denoted by index in the list of profiles.
Repairs the profile denoted by index in the list of profiles.
Removes the profile denoted by index in the list of profiles.
Displays the list of installed and applied updates.
Activates the updates denoted by update-names, which is a colon-separated list of update names.
Reverts to the configuration of updates denoted by index in the list of applied updates.
Cleans up the backup directory.
Displays JET Setup version.