Java.exe in c:\winnt\system32?

Question

Hi,
I have installed J2SE1.3.1 and J2EE 1.3 b2 on my win2000pro machine and was experimenting with my environment.
In J2SE1.3.1 installation instructions it was said, that for convenience you can set path to
point to your j2se1.3.1\bin dir... Ok. Did that. I had a path like follows:
path=c:\winnt;c:\winnt\system32;c:\jdk1.3.1\bin;
And I had no problems running java apps from the command line.
But one day I accidentally looked in c:\winnt\system32 and found (!!!) java.exe and some other files and dlls, which under normal circumstances (may be well, I just didn't know they were installed there) reside in jdk1.3.1\bin. So actually, java.exe from c:\winnt\system32 was executed each time I ran java.exe.
I checked the versions of both:
in jdk:
--- output begin ---
C:\jdk1.3.1\bin>java -version
java version "1.3.1"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.1-b24)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.1-b24, mixed mode)
--- output end ---
and in windows:
--- output begin ---
C:\WINNT\system32>java -version
java version "1.3.1"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.1-b24)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.1-b24, mixed mode)
--- output end ---
Looks the same (java.exe files exist in both dirs and they seem to be the same by size and date...
Ok.
I checked -help output:
--- output begin ---
C:\jdk1.3.1\bin>java.exe -help
Usage: java [-options] class [args...]
(to execute a class)
or java -jar [-options] jarfile [args...]
(to execute a jar file)
where options include:
-hotspot to select the "hotspot" VM
-server to select the "server" VM
-classic to select the "classic" VM
If present, the option to select the VM must be first.
The default VM is -hotspot.
-cp -classpath <directories and zip/jar files separated by ;>
set search path for application classes and resources
-D<name>=<value>
set a system property
-verbose[:class|gc|jni]
enable verbose output
-version print product version and exit
-showversion print product version and continue
-? -help print this help message
-X print help on non-standard options
--- output end ---
And in windows:
--- output begin ---
C:\WINNT\system32>java.exe -help
Usage: java [-options] class [args...]
(to execute a class)
or java -jar [-options] jarfile [args...]
(to execute a jar file)
where options include:
-hotspot to select the "hotspot" VM
If present, the option to select the VM must be first.
The default VM is -hotspot.
-cp -classpath <directories and zip/jar files separated by ;>
set search path for application classes and resources
-D<name>=<value>
set a system property
-verbose[:class|gc|jni]
enable verbose output
-version print product version and exit
-showversion print product version and continue
-? -help print this help message
-X print help on non-standard options
--- output end ---
Notice - in c:\jdk "version" of java.exe two more switches exist, namely:
-server to select the "server" VM
-classic to select the "classic" VM
These options do not exist in "windows" java.exe version.
I suppose, that those "additional" options do not appear, because there is fairly incomplete list of files from jdk1.3.1\bin exists in winnt\system32 - i.e. "dlls" for "server" and "classic" (why for classic) are not available... But I do not know for sure...
My questions are:
Is is a normal installation option for either j2ee or j2se?
If it is, why in the j2se installation instructions they recommend to "correct" the path for "convenience" if in the final account the java.exe from "windows" is called, which well might be really undesired behaviour... (path=c:\winnt;c:\winnt\system32;c:\jdk1.3.1\bin;)
Where can I read more about this particular situation?
Thanks a lot guys!

Answer 1

Is is a normal installation option for either j2ee or j2se?Yes; it is said somewhere in the JRE installation notes. The windoze JRE installer will copy java.exe and javaw.exe (apparently with some other files) to the win dir. You should also find a third java.exe from c:\program files\javasoft\jre\1.3.1\bin or something like that.