System/Installation/J803
Overview
All distributions support Jconsole and JHS. Some include the Qt desktop, which can also be installed separately, see Qt IDE.
Requirements
J and the Qt desktop have been tested and are supported on the following platforms:
- Windows 32 - XP or later
- Windows 64 - 7 or later
- Mac 32/64 OSX - 10.6.8 or later
- Linux 32/64 - Red Hat 6 or other distribution with Qt 4.8 (most popular distributions)
- Raspberry Pi - any version with Raspbian OS
Note: both Windows XP and OSX 10.6.8 are no longer supported by their vendors and no longer receive security updates. Future support of J on those platforms is not guaranteed.
Install
Download the appropriate file from j803/install. Some files are zips or tars that can be unzipped and moved anywhere on your machine. Others are installers that create a default installation.
The default J install folder is under HOME, and is j803 for 32 bit, or j64-803 for 64 bit systems.
Before running J, you should check that the profile script in the bin subdirectory points to the correct directories. To make changes, copy the profilex_template.ijs script to a new profilex.ijs script, and update that script.
Admin privilege is not required for a standard install or for web updates.
User and temp files are in HOME folder j803-user or j64-803-user.
Doing the install in a protected folder path such as "Program Files..." or /usr/... requires admin privilege and will require admin privilege for web updates. Installing in other than HOME can be a nuisance and has no compelling benefit with the possible exception of an install for Multiple Users.
JE (J Engine) is a shared library that executes J sentences and is the system core. JE is j.dll in Windows, libj.so in Linux, and libj.dylib in Mac.
JFE (J Front End) is a user interface to JE.
Jconsole is a console JFE. It is jconsole.exe in Windows and jconsole in Linux and Mac.
Unix hardlinks to JFE are not supported and symlinks must have an absolute path.
Folder Summary
J:
jinstall: j803 or j64-803 juser: j803-user or j64-user-803
home:
Vista or later: \Users\name XP: \Documents and Settings\name Linux: /home/name Mac: /Users/name
system:
J32 on Win 32: C:\Program Files J64 on Win 64: C:\Program Files J32 on Win 64: C:\Program Files (x86) Unix: /usr/...
standard install:
home/jinstall home/juser
system install:
system/jinstall home/juser
custom install:
[...]/jinstall home/juser
custom install with profilex.ijs:
[...]/jinstall [???]
Windows
If using the installer, this creates J folder j803 and Program Group j803 (j64-803 for Windows64).
Yellow J icon interrupts a running J program.
Gray J icon runs Jconsole (Ctrl+D exits).
Windows XP: HOME is "\Documents and Settings\username".
Linux and Raspberry Pi
Unzip and move to the target directory, usually ~/j803 or ~/j64-803.
Run Jconsole:
...> ~/j803/jconsole.sh
To start Jconsole from any directory, create a symbolic link to the binary in a folder in PATH. For example,
...$ ln -s ~/j803/bin/jconsole jc ...$ sudo mv jc /usr/bin/jc
libedit
Jconsole now requires libedit.so.2.
RHEL 6 (and its derivatives) include libedit.so.0.0.27. Jconsole will run on this distribution if you make a symbolic link from libedit.so.0.0.27 to libedit.so.2 (requires root access).
Suse Linux 12.1 requires the following symbolic links (requires root access):
...$ ln -s /lib/libncurses.so.5.8 libtinfo.so.5 ...$ ln -s libedit.so.0.0.35 libedit.so.2
Mac
Standard install is to use Finder to copy j803 folder from the zip to your home folder.
Copy does a complete replace of an existing J folder and you need extra steps if there are files you want to protect or carry forward.
- Green jqt icon runs JQt (if installed)
- Grey jcon icon runs Jconsole
- Red jhs icon runs the JHS server
- Yellow jbrk icon interrupts a running J program.
To start Jconsole from any directory, create a symbolic link to the binary in a folder in PATH. For example,
...$ ln -s ~/j64-803/bin/jconsole jc ...$ sudo mv jc /usr/bin/jc
An option is to copy the j803 folder to Applications. This requires admin privilege for the install and for subsequent web updates. An Applications install can be used by other users.
Another option, for casual use, is to just run J from the mounted disk image.
An additional step is required to run Jconsole on OSX 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). Jconsole now requires libedit.3.dylib. OSX 10.6.8 doesn't have this dylib. Instead it has libedit.2.dylib . Make a symbolic link from libedit.2.dylib to libedit.3.dylib to make jcons "see" the dylib it expects to see.
...$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libedit.2.dylib /usr/lib/libedit.3.dylib
Jconsole will now run on this version of OSX.
Multiple Users
Multiple users can share a single J install. Different users automatically get their own user and temp folders in their HOME folder.You can share a standard install with the J folder in the HOME directory of the user who is primarily responsible for J and updates and maintenance.
Alternatively you can do the install (or move an existing install) to a folder you feel is more appropriate. If you move a Windows install you have to manually edit the jsoftware-j803 icon properties to reference the new location.
You will want to provide users a convenient way to run J and this varies across platforms.
Windows
To allow all users to see the jsoftware-j803 Program Group, copy it from your HOME Programs folder to the public Programs folder:
1. right click Start button and click Open 1. right click jsoftware-j803 and click copy 1. right click Start button and click Open All Users 1. right click Programs folder and click paste
Linux
Create desktop launch icons and symlinks as appropriate.
Mac
If you put j803 in Applications, the J icons are already there in the j803 folder. If J is somewhere else you can create alias links for the J icons in Applications as follows:
1. in J folder press ctrl, click red J icon, click Make Alias 1. drag j803 alias to Applications 1. rename alias to just be j803 1. repeat steps for yellow J icon if desired
Create symlinks as appropriate.
Customized User Folder
The normal folder for user and temp files is HOME j803-user (or j64-803-user). Override this by creating profilex.ijs in your J bin folder.
bin\profilex_template.ijs is a template of what you want in profilex.ijs for the override. Study profilex_template.ijs before making your profilex.ijs file. Backup and be careful as errors may prevent J from starting properly.
USB Memory Stick
You can copy a J folder to a USB memory stick for a complete and portable J system. If you want the J user folders to be on the memory stick you need to create a profilex.ijs file in the memory stick J bin folder. See Customized User Folder for more information. You will want to edit profilex.ijs to have user in the install folder.
If you don't put profilex.ijs in the J folder on the memory stick, the J system will use HOME for the user folder.
Uninstall
Uninstall a J system by deleting the install folder, user folder(s), launch commands, icons, and shortcuts.
If you aren't sure where the J folders are, run J to get the information:
jpath'~install' ... jpath'~user' ...
Don't delete the user folder if you want to keep those files for a new J install.
A multi-user install will have user folders in each users home folder.
Windows
Delete the J program group by clicking Start|All Programs then right clicking the J program group and selecting delete.
If you registered J as a COM server you can unregister it by running
....> regsvr32 /u [path to J install folder]\j.dll