README


Note: The most recent version of this document is available on-line.

NetBeans IDE - Release 3.3.2

Contents

1. Introduction
2. What's New In This Release
3. System Requirements
3.1 Hardware
3.2 Operating System
3.3 Software
4. Installation
5. The Launcher and Startup Parameters
6. Compatibility/Upgrading
7. Known Problems
8. Documentation
9. More Information
10. Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

Welcome to NetBeans IDE version 3.3.2, a modular, standards-based integrated development environment (IDE), written in Java. NetBeans is not just an IDE. NetBeans is:

Read more about NetBeans ...

2. What's New In This Release

NetBeans IDE 3.3.2 is a bug fix release of NetBeans 3.3.1. This release contains more than 120 bug fixes. The complete list of bugs fixed between the 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 releases can be found on this page.
In addition, the NetBeans 3.3.2 release contains changes in the OpenVMS launcher and updated online help.
NetBeans IDE 3.3.1 was a bug fix release of NetBeans 3.3. It contains about 550 new bug fixes. The complete list of fixed bugs can be found in IssueZilla using this query.
NetBeans IDE 3.3 release contains a lot of new features. The complete list of new features implemented in this release is available in the IDE's installation folder in the CHANGES.html file.

3. System Requirements

Since NetBeans is written in pure Java, it should run on any working implementation of Java(TM) 2 SDK, Standard Edition.

3.1 Hardware

The hardware requirements are similar for all platforms, but it may differ slightly for some cases. The recommended configuration for running NetBeans IDE is: Note: If your system's memory is lower than the above recommendation, you should set a lower maximum heap size in the bin/ide.cfg file. For example, if your system has 64 Mbytes of memory, you can change the -J-Xmx96m parameter to -Xmx48m.

3.2 Operating System

Any operating system supporting Java(TM) 2 SDK, Standard Edition. Below is a list of platforms that the NetBeans IDE can run on. If you know about any other platform, please let us know.

3.3 Software

The NetBeans IDE requires a Java 2-compatible JVM. Download the latest version of the appropriate JDK from the following sites:

If you are running on a Microsoft Windows system, please note that the runide.exe installer does not detect beta versions of the JDK. You can set the -jdkhome jdk_home_dir parameter in the ide.cfg file if you want to use a different JDK than the one detected by the installer. See The Launcher and Startup Parameters for more information.

4. Installation

For all platforms you can download the .zip or the .tar.gz archive file and unpack it on the hard disk using your favorite tool. Then you must customize the startup parameters to tell the IDE where to find the SDK. Please read the The Launcher and Startup Parameters section for details.

On Microsoft Windows platforms you can download and run an .exe point-and-click installer that guides you through the required steps.

On OpenVMS

On Mac OS X


Notes:

5. The Launcher and Startup Parameters

The IDE is run by a launcher. Launchers for several platforms are located in the bin subdirectory of the installation directory.

For UNIX, the Bourne shell script runide.sh is the launcher.
For Microsoft Windows, use the runide.exe or the runidew.exe executable. runide.exe is a Microsoft Windows console application. When you run runide.exe, a console opens on the desktop with stderr and stdout output from the NetBeans IDE. You can type Ctrl-Break to get the thread dump, or type Ctrl-C to quit the whole program. runidew.exe is the executable for running the NetBeans IDE as a window application without a console.
For OS/2 runideos2.cmd is the launcher.
For OpenVMS runideopenvms.com is the launcher.

The launcher loads the JVM, builds the IDE's classpath, passes it along with some default parameters to the JVM, and lets the JVM launch the Java application. It also restarts the IDE after you have used the Update Center.

You can pass startup parameters to the launcher using the ${IDE_HOME>/bin/ide.cfg file. The launcher tries to read this file before it starts parsing the command line options. You can break the options into multiple lines.

The following options are available:

-h
-help
print descriptions of common startup parameters

-jdkhome jdk_home_dir
use the specified version of the Java(TM) 2 SDK instead of the default SDK. By default on Windows systems, the loader looks into the Windows registry and uses the latest SDK available.

-classic
use the classic JVM, instead of the default Java HotSpot Client VM.

-cp:p additional_classpath
prepends the specified classpath to the IDE's classpath.

-cp:a additional_classpath
-cp additional_classpath
appends the specified classpath to the IDE's classpath.

-Jjvm_flags
passes specified flags directly to the JVM.

-ui UI_class_name
use a given class as the IDE's LookAndFeel

-fontsize size
use a given size in points as the font size for the IDE user interface.

-locale language[:country[:variant]]
use the specified locale.

-userdir userdir
explicitly specifies the userdir which is the location where user settings are stored. If this option is not used on UNIX the location is ${HOME}/nbuser33. On Microsoft Windows systems, the launcher asks the user to specify the userdir and stores the value in the registry for later use.

6. Compatibility/Upgrading

When you first run NetBeans IDE 3.3.2, you can import the settings that you used in a previous installation of the IDE. These settings include project-specific settings and global options. If you choose not to import settings from a previous release, the IDE begins with a set of default settings. The Import Wizard guides you through the choices.

You can import settings from NetBeans IDE v. 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 and 3.3. You can also import settings for Forte for Java v. 2.0 and 3.0.

In NetBeans IDE 3.2 and Forte for Java 3.0, you can find the user directory when running the software. Choose Help | About, and click the Detail tab.

Though it is possible to import settings from a previous IDE installation into NetBeans IDE 3.3, it is not possible to import settings from NetBeans IDE 3.3 into earlier IDE releases.

7. Known Problems

The following list includes the known high priority issues in NetBeans 3.3.2.

IdPriorityComponentDescription
14130P2openideUnable to add files to the already created jar(-Content)
12557P2openideDeadlock while modifying just loaded source.
19217P2coreSizes of split maximized windows not remembered after restart
19521P2coreMemory leak
18101P3javacvsClassCastException on org.netbeans.modules.javacvs.caching.CvsCacheFile
19133P2scriptingUnable to make a simple examle with jdk1.3.1_02
12451P2uiActions from popup menu not fully visible
19506P2extbrowserStarting Netscape 6 from IDE has problems
19612P3extbrowserUnable to launch web browser when program is check stopped
19589P2webWAR stores linked directories/files in the wrong directory (the root)
11338P2httpservIDE refuses to exit

Note: The most recent list of known issues is available on-line.

8. Documentation

Documentation is provided for the NetBeans IDE in the form of online help. To access all of the available online help, choose Help | Contents.

You can adjust the font sizes and colors in the online help by changing a single cascading style sheet. In the IDE's installation directory, go to /docs/org/netbeans/modules/usersguide and edit or replace the ide.css file.

Note:The online help contains incorrect instructions for changing the ide.css file. Use the instructions above instead.

9. More Information

There is extensive information on the NetBeans project website, http://www.netbeans.org/. Included on the website are a FAQ and instructions on how to subscribe to mailing lists where you can post questions, comments, or help others.

As NetBeans is an open source project, you can get access to the source code, bug tracking system, and so on at http://www.netbeans.org/.

More information about the NetBeans IDE is available at http://www.netbeans.org/ide/index.html.

10. Acknowledgements

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).