JAVA_HOME points to JRE or JDK directory? - conflicting doco

[Steve Nyhof]

Hi I am installing the zip version of Confluence for the first time and there are two conflicting settings for JAVA_HOME on two linked Atlassian web pages:

On this page:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Installing+Java+for+Confluence

the example is (under Windows):

• C:\Program Files\Java\JDK7

However on this page:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Setting+the+JAVA_HOME+Variable+in+Windows

the example is:

• C:\Progra~1\Java\jre6

The first example implies that JAVA_HOME should be set to the JDK directory, but the second example shows it set to the JRE directory.

Which is right?

It would be good if the documentation was updated to help future installers.

Regards Steve

[Joachim Ooi · Accepted solution]

Pointing to JDK works at least for me. Stick to that. :)

[Guenter Huber]

Joachim,
I don t like "blackbox" answers.

Every JDK contains a JRE (directory).

So, point to the JDK1.x.x(\bin) or the JDK1.x.x\JRE(\bin), depending if you just need a JRE (mostly) or a JDK.

One black niche: Some JVM installations have Jxx\Client, some Jxx\Server, some both (Jxx meaning both, JDK or JRE) for start- or runtime optimization.
Presence seems random.
Even one of our lead Java devs couldn t finally say what the fallback would be if -server is specified and the dir is missing.

Another thing is that the 64 bit rev 67 JDK install explicitly installed a separate JRE in addition to the jdk1.7.0_67\jre that was there anyway. <sigh>

But I guess your answer is: I think every Confluence installation comes with a private JRE in Atlassian\Confluence!

Greetings
G.