/jEdit/tags/jedit-4-2-pre14/doc/FAQ/faq-problems.xml

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<!-- jEdit FAQ                                           -->
<!-- Copyright (C) 2003 John Gellene, Kris Kopicki       -->

<sect1 id="problems"><title>Problems</title>
<para>
  This section deals with problems you may experience while using or
  installing jEdit. Problems that aren't OS specific are listed under
  <link linkend="general-problems"><quote>General Problems</quote></link>.
</para>
<qandaset defaultlabel="qanda">

<qandadiv id="general-problems">
	<title>General Problems</title>

    <qandaentry>
      <question id="wont-start"><para>
        jEdit won't start. What should I do?
      </para></question>
      <answer><para>
        If you don't have a clue as to why you cannot run jEdit, it's
        best to perform a step-by-step diagnosis.  Begin by finding the
        Java application loader you are using: <filename>java.exe</filename>,
        <filename>javaw.exe</filename> or <filename>java</filename>. Make sure
        it is running by entering its full path with the <userinput>-h</userinput>
        parameter in a terminal or console window.  If you can't find
        the Java application loader, your Java runtime environment package
        may be missing or incomplete.
      </para>
      <para>
          Next, find where you have installed jEdit.  You should look
          for the file <filename>jedit.jar</filename> which contains all
          of the application's Java class files in a compressed archive.
      </para>
      <para>
          Once you have both files, run the Java loader with the
          <userinput>-jar</userinput> option and with
          <filename>jedit.jar</filename> as the target.  Make sure that
          you either specify full paths for both files or that the
          directories for the files are part of your <filename>PATH</filename>
          environment variable. If jEdit does not load at this point, the likely
          problem is a corrupt <filename>jedit.jar</filename> file. Try
          downloading the application again.
      </para>
      <para>
          If jEdit does load using this procedure, you need to examine
          the <quote>shortcut</quote> loading mechanism you wish to use.
      </para>
      <para>
        On Linux and MacOS X, you need to find and examine the <filename>jedit</filename>
        shell script provided by the installation routine to confirm that the
        script's commands target the correct files and locations, and that
        variables like <filename>JAVA_HOME</filename> are either defined in the
        script or elsewhere in your shell's environment. Don't forget to make
        sure that the script's file permissions allow you to execute it as a shell script.
      </para>
      <para>
          On Windows, if you are using a batch script to run jEdit, the
          same points (other than file permissions) apply to examining
          <filename>jedit.bat</filename>.  If you are using
          jEditLauncher, run <userinput>jedit /p</userinput> in jEdit's
          installation directory from a command line to get the custom
          loader's setup dialog.  Here you can check the paths for both
          the Java application loader and jEdit as well as any command
          line parameters for both programs.  Make sure that you have
          placed Java and jEdit options in the correct input fields.
          If the parameters seems correct
          but jEdit will not load with the Windows launcher, try
          uninstalling and reinstalling the launcher by running
          <userinput>jedit /u</userinput> followed by
          <userinput>jedit /i</userinput>.
      </para>
      <para>
          If at this point you're still stuck, ask for help on the
          jedit-users mailing list, the jEdit Community
          <quote>Installation</quote> message board or on IRC.
          You're bound to find someone quickly.
      </para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>

    <qandaentry>
      <question id="start-missing-plugins"><para>
        After jEdit starts, I can't see all of the plugins I have downloaded.
        How can I make them appear?
      </para></question>
      <answer><para>
        If you use jEdit's Plugin Manager to download and install plugins, your
        plugins will be found in the <filename>jars</filename> subdirectory of
        one of two directories: either the directory in which jEdit is
        installed, or the current user's settings directory. These are the only
        location jEdit examines when it loads plugins at startup.
      </para>
      <para>
        The default location of the settings directory depends on your operating
        system. You can find out its location during a jEdit session by
        evaluating <userinput>jedit.getSettingsDirectory()</userinput> in BeanShell.
      </para>
      <para>
          The settings directory can be changed by using the
          <userinput>-settings</userinput> command line parameter. If you change the
          location of the settings directory with this parameter, jEdit will not
          be able to find plugin archive files in the old location.
          If you use or change the <userinput>-settings</userinput>
          parameter, make sure your plugins don't get left behind.
      </para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>

    <qandaentry>
      <question id="problems-out-of-memory"><para>
        During an editing session I get an error message about an
        <quote>OutOfMemoryError</quote> while working with a large file or
        performing a lengthy operation. The message reappears every time
        I retry the operation.  How can I prevent this?
      </para></question>
      <answer><para>
        One solution that often works is to set or increase the allocation of
        memory to the heap for Java objects created by the Java Virtual Machine
        in which jEdit is running. Add the command line option
        <userinput>-mxXXm</userinput> to the options passed to the version of
        the Java application loader you are using (such as
        <filename>java</filename>, <filename>java.exe</filename> or
        <filename>javaw.exe</filename>). In place of the
        <userinput>XX</userinput> in the option, use a multiple of 16
        between 32 and 128. If you already are using the option, increase the
        numeric portion of the <userinput>-mxXXm</userinput> parameter in
        increments of 16. Many users have good results using 48 or 64, but you
        should try different values for the best result on your installation.
       </para>
       <para>
        If you are using the <userinput>-jar</userinput> command line option
        with Java to run jEdit, remember that the <userinput>-jar</userinput>
        parameter must be the last Java option, followed immediately by the path
        to <filename>jedit.jar</filename> and then any jEdit command line options.
       </para>
       <para>
        If out of memory errors occur while running a build or compilation
        operation from within jEdit, you can also have the operation run in an
        external process rather than inside the same Java Virtual Machine
        running jEdit. The AntFarm plugin, for example, lets you select this
        approach as a configuration option. In other cases, you can run an
        external program using the command line interface of the Console plugin,
        which will capture and display the output of the external process and in
        many cases parse the output for error information.
      </para></answer>
    </qandaentry>
	
    <qandaentry>
      <question id="install-no-such-file"><para>
        What should I do when the installer displays the message,
        <screen>No such file or directory</screen>?
      </para></question>
      <answer><para>
        The full message that you may receive from the Java application launcher
        begins as follows:
        <screen>Exception in thread "main" java.util.zip.ZipException: No such file or directory
...</screen>
        This means that the Java application launcher cannot read the
        jar archive file that you specified on the command line. If your Java
        runtime environment otherwise runs properly, then either you have named
        the incorrect file name or the installation file is corrupt or
        incomplete. Check the file name, download the installer again if
        necessary, and be sure to follow any specific instructions for your
        operating system posted on the <ulink
        url="http://www.jedit.org">jEdit web site</ulink>.
      </para></answer>
    </qandaentry>

	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-noclassdef">
			<para>
				After downloading <filename>jeditXXXinstall.jar</filename> (the
				<filename>XXX</filename> represents the version number), I tried to run
				<userinput>java jeditXXXinstall.jar</userinput>, but got the error message,
				<screen>Exception in main(), NoClassDefFoundError: jeditXXXinstall/jar.</screen> What am I doing wrong?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
	
			<para>
				You need to specify the <userinput>-jar</userinput> option for the Java
				application loader so that the loader will search the installation archive
				for the starting class file. Without the option, it treats the archive as a
				single class file (which it is not!), thus producing the error. The correct
				command line would be <userinput>java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar</userinput>.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	
    <qandaentry>
        <question id="jedit-crashed">
                <para>
                        jEdit crashed the JVM, what gives?
                </para>
        </question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				It's important to realise that java applications should never do this.
				The problem is almost certainly a bug in the JVM. Problems of this
				nature are often tricky to solve. Depending on your platform, there
				should be information logged about what caused the crash to occur. For
				Unix type systems you will likely get an error in the console (and for
				Mac OS X you may also get a report in ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/JavaApplicationStub.crash.log).
				Some recent problems with Java 1.4.x and Windows were the result of a
				bug in the JVM and certain graphics card drivers.
			</para>
		</answer>
    </qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
        <question id="general-slowstart">
			<para>
					Why is jEdit so slow to start up?
			</para>
        </question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				The most likely cause is one or more plugins that are installed. jEdit 4.1
				displays loading times for plugins in the activity log.
			</para>
			<procedure>
				<step>
					<para>
						To go the <guimenu>Utilities</guimenu> menu and select <guimenuitem>Activity Log</guimenuitem>.
					</para>
				</step>
				<step>
					<para>
						Scroll to the area where you see lines like <quote>[notice] JARClassLoader: Starting plugin XXX</quote>.
					</para>
				</step>
			</procedure>
			<para>
				You should be able to see which (if any) plugins are causing an excesively long delay.
			</para>
		</answer>
    </qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
        <question id="general-slow">
			<para>
				Why is jEdit so slow?
			</para>
        </question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				There may be many causes for this. Java by nature is more demanding on hardware than native
				applications. Modern computers should not have much problem with this.
			</para>
			<para>
				The most likely cause is plugins that parse buffers or do other computationally expensive
				operations. These include XML, SpeedJava and CodeAid. If performance is important to you, installing
				a whole batch of plugins in one go is probably not a very good idea. Install them one at a time,
				so you can evaluate the effects of each.
				
				<note>
					<para>
					If you are experiencing slow downs when switching and saving buffers (up to 20 second delays) and you
					have the TaskList plugin installed, check that the version is greater than 0.4. Versions after 0.4 fix
					the problem.
					</para>
				</note>
			</para>
		</answer>
    </qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
        <question id="general-docking">
			<para>
				Go to left/top/bottom/right docking area does not work for some plugins?
			</para>
        </question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				The plugin is missing a <methodname>requestDefaultFocus()</methodname> method.
				Plugin updates will be available from time to time, or you can email the author
				of the plugin to let them know of the problem.
			</para>
		</answer>
    </qandaentry>
	
</qandadiv>

<!--********************************************************* Mac OS -->

<qandadiv id="macos-problems">
	<title>Mac OS Problems</title>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="blurry-tabs">
			<para>
				Why are the tabs for docked windows blurry under OS X 10.2?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				In Mac OS X 10.2 Apple enabled Hardware Acceleration for Java by default.
				Unfortunately it had some bugs. This is the result of one of these bugs.
				The only way to avoid this problem is to disable hardware acceleration for
				jEdit or your whole system.
				To disable it in jEdit you will need to edit
				the following file:
				jEdit/jEdit.app/Contents/Resources/MRJApp.properties
				
				You will need to add the line <userinput>com.apple.hwaccel=false</userinput>.
				This is done for you in the Mac OS X package of jEdit 4.1.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="not-in-menubar">
			<para>
				Why are the menus not in the menubar?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				You can enable the use of OS X's menubar in the Mac OS Plugin settings.
				You should note that the reason this is off by default is because of numerous
				problems with using the Mac OS X menubar. For example dynamic menus, shortcuts
				and check box menu items do not work correctly or at all. All bar the shortcut
				issue is resolved in Java 1.4.1 (currently in beta).
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="freeze-hide">
			<para>
				Why does jEdit freeze when I hide the application while it is starting up?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				This appears to be a bug in Java 1.3.1. Once the splash screen has gone
				it should be safe to hide the application.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="freeze-general">
			<para>
				Why does jEdit freeze my whole system?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				Under some hardware configurations this can happen. It is only known to happen
				with Rage 128 Pro graphics cards. There appears to be a bug relating to the graphics
				card drivers that cause any carbon applications using the card to freeze. Since java
				1.3.1 is carbon based, it suffers from this problem. Follow the instructions
				<link linkend="blurry-tabs">here</link> to disable hardware acceleration. Java 1.4.x
				does not suffer from this problem (in beta at this time).
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<!--***************************************************** Unix/Linux -->

<qandadiv id="unix-problems">
	<title>Unix/Linux Problems</title>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-jedit-home">
			<para>
				After installing jEdit on Linux, running the <userinput>jedit</userinput>
				command causes the error message:
				<screen>Warning: JAVA_HOME environment variable not set</screen>
				How can I fix this?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				Your <filename>jedit</filename> shell script should
				be modified to set the <userinput>JAVA_HOME</userinput> variable
				to the directory containing	the executables of
				your desired Java runtime environment (JRE).
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>

	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-mandrake-kaffe">
			<para>
				How can I get jEdit to run on Mandrake Linux 8.1? When I try to start the
				program, I keep getting an error which begins as follows:
				<screen>java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: Ljavax/swing/text/Document; at
				java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:native) at
				kaffe.jar.ExecJarName.main</screen>
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				This version of Mandrake Linux uses the Open Source Kaffe package as its default
				Java virtual machine. Kaffe is compliant with version 1.1 (and to a limited extent,
				version 1.2) of the Java platform.  However, the latest version of jEdit, version 4.1, requires
				at least version 1.3. You will need to install another Java package for Linux
				(either Blackdown, IBM or Sun) that complies with at least version 1.3.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-linux-keyboard">
			<para>
				I installed jEdit 3.2.2 from the RPM on Mandrake 8.1 and I am unable to send any
				keyboard inputs to jEdit. But the mouse interacts with the program just fine. I
				have tried running it on Sun's JDK 1.3.1 and Blackdown's latest JDK (Dec. 2001)
				without any luck.
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				This problem has been reported with various combinations of window managers and
				desktop environments. The IBM JDK has not been reported to have this problem. In
				addition, there have not been reported problems with the Sun and Blackdown JDK's
				when running under the Sawfish window manager.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<!--******************************************************** Windows -->

<qandadiv id="windows-problems">
	<title>Windows Problems</title>
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-windows-errmessage">
			<para>
				When I try to run
				<filename>jedit.exe</filename> I get the message
				<screen>The JEditLauncher component does not appear to be installed.</screen>
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				The dialog presenting this message asks if you would like to install the
				launcher. Select <userinput>Yes</userinput> and supply further information
				as prompted. A file	named <filename>install.log</filename> is generated in the
				same directory as <filename>jedit.exe</filename> that
				contains information on the launcher's installation. You can send this file
				along with jEdit's Activity Log if you continue to have problems running jEdit
				with the launcher package.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-error-regkey">
			<para>
				When I try to run the jEdit installation package in Windows, I get an error
				message, <screen>Error opening registration key
				"software\javasoft\java runtime	environment".</screen> How can I fix this?
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				The problem is not with jEdit but may be caused by your installation of the Java
				runtime environment. Under Windows, Sun's Java application loader relies on
				entries in the Windows registry to find the files that create the runtime
				environment and a Java virtual machine. The loader (<filename>java.exe</filename>e or
				<filename>javaw.exe</filename>) is
				unable to find the necessary registration entry and therefore sends the error
				message. The best approach to fixing this is to uninstall and reinstall the JDK.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
	
	<qandaentry>
		<question id="install-windows-badcommand">
			<para>
				When trying to install jEdit on Windows Me with an MS-DOS prompt, after entering
				<userinput>java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar</userinput> I get the message
				<userinput>bad command or file name</userinput>.
				I have tried various alternatives but still cannot install.
			</para>
		</question>
		<answer>
			<para>
				You should confirm that you have a Java runtime environment installed, which
				will include <filename>java.exe</filename> and the version that omits a separate
				terminal window, <filename>javaw.exe</filename>. Make sure that the directory
				containing <filename>java.exe</filename> or <filename>javaw.exe</filename>is found
				in the value of your <filename>PATH</filename> environment variable.
				Otherwise you should give the full path to the chosen loader on your command line.
			</para>
		</answer>
	</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

</qandaset>

</sect1>