Minimize Manual Ja.NET SE Installation

To install Ja.NET SE manually, you will first need to download the appropriate .ZIP file which corresponds to the SE package (i.e., JDK or JRE) you wish to install. Once complete, follow these step by step instructions to get an installation up and running:

  1. Check to see if you have .NET 3.5 installed on your computer. If you do not, go to the Microsoft Download Website to download and install the .NET 3.5 framework.
  2. Check to see if you have the Visual C++ 2008 runtime libraries installed. If not, or you are not sure, go to the Microsoft Download Website and download and install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86).
  3. Unzip the Ja.NET SE distribution to a directory. In the steps that follow, we will refer to this location as JANET_INSTALL.
  4. Locate the Ja.NET SE directory with the class libraries and VM adapter assemblies. If you have unzipped a JDK, then you will find its files in JANET_INSTALL\jre\bin\default. If you have unzipped a JRE, then you will find associated files in JANET_INSTALL\bin\default.
  5. Install all of the assemblies located in that directory into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). This will include all the files except harmonyvm.dll. The simplest way to do this is to select all of the files in Windows Explorer, and simply drag and drop them into the c:\windows\assembly directory.
  6. If you are installing a JDK package, you will also want to install all of the assemblies located in the JANET_INSTALL\bin directory into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). This includes the files janet.ecj.dll, janet.tools.dll, Mono.Cecil.dll, Mono.Cecil.Pdb.dll, and Mono.Cecil.Merge.dll.
  7. Update the windows registry to include the location of the Ja.NET SE JRE installation. To do this, perform the following steps:
    • Add the registry key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Janet\Runtime Environment” if it is not already present.  
    • Add a string value with the name “Current” and a value equal to the version of Ja.NET SE you just installed to “...\Janet\Runtime Environment”. If “Current” already exists, then just edit the value to match the version you are installing. For example, if you downloaded “janet-jdk-1.5.12345-windows-x86-32.zip”, then you would set “Current” to have a value of “1.5.12345”.
    • Add a registry key under “...\Janet\Runtime Environment” that matches the version you are installing. For example, you would add the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Janet\Runtime Environment\1.5.12345” to match the example above.
    • Add a string value with the name “JanetHome” and a value equal to the absolute path to the location of the Ja.NET SE JRE installation directory.  If you have unzipped a JDK, then you would set it to JANET_INSTALL\jre. If you have unzipped a JRE, then you would set it to JANET_INSTALL.
  8. If you want the Ja.NET SE assemblies to appear in the “Add Reference” list of available assemblies when using any of the Visual Studio products, then you will want to edit the registry as follows:
    • Add a registry key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727\AssemblyFoldersEx\Janet”. Most of the above is already present in the registry, so you will only have to add “Janet”
    • Add a string value with the name “Default” and a value equal to the path to the Ja.NET assemblies to “Janet”. If you have unzipped a JDK, then you will find them in JANET_INSTALL\jre\bin\default. If you have unzipped a JRE, then you will find them in JANET_INSTALL\bin\default.
  9. Optionally, if you want to improve startup time of Ja.NET SE, you can NGEN all of the Ja.NET assemblies you installed into the GAC above. When you install Ja.NET using the .MSI files, this is done for you during the installation.

At this point you should have a complete installation that is configured and ready to go. Check out how to give it a try to start using it.

Print