Setting Up the Java Environment

Tomcat requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from J2SE version 6 or later.

To install and set up a JRE on the target machine:

  1. Download the Java 2 Standard Edition JRE 6, from the Oracle web site.
  2. Install the JRE on the target machine according to the instructions in the download package.

  3. Set an environment variable named jre_home to the directory into which you installed the JRE. The default installation locations are:

    • (Windows users) C:\Program Files\Java\<JRE_version>, for example
    • (Linux users) <JRE_version> in the directory where the JRE self-extracting binary was run.

  1. Append jre_home/bin to the path environment variable.

    Note: You can use the full Java Development Kit (JDK) rather than just the JRE. In this case, set the java_home environment variable (not jre_home) to the directory into which you installed the JDK, and append java_home/bin to the path environment variable.