Problems
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## Problems

This section deals with problems you may experience while using or installing jEdit. Problems that aren't OS specific are listed under “General Problems”.

1. General Problems
  Q: jEdit won't start. What should I do?
  Q: After jEdit starts, I can't see all of the plugins I have downloaded. How can I make them appear?
  Q: During an editing session I get an error message about an OutOfMemoryError 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?
  Q: Why is jEdit's window movement and resizing so buggy?
  Q: What should I do when the installer displays the message, No such file or directory?
  Q: After downloading jeditXXXinstall.jar (the XXX represents the version number), I tried to run java jeditXXXinstall.jar, but got the error message, Exception in main(), NoClassDefFoundError: jeditXXXinstall/jar. What am I doing wrong?
  Q: jEdit crashed the JVM, what gives?
  Q: Why is jEdit so slow to start up?
  Q: Why is jEdit so slow?
  Q: Go to left/top/bottom/right docking area does not work for some plugins?
2. Mac OS Problems
  Q: Why are the tabs for docked windows blurry under OS X 10.2?
  Q: Why are the menus not in the menubar?
  Q: Why does jEdit freeze when I hide the application while it is starting up?
  Q: Why does jEdit freeze my whole system?
3. Unix/Linux Problems
  Q: After installing jEdit on Linux, running the jedit command causes the error message: Warning: JAVA_HOME environment variable not set How can I fix this?
  Q: 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: java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: Ljavax/swing/text/Document; at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:native) at kaffe.jar.ExecJarName.main
  Q: 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.
4. Windows Problems
  Q: When I try to run jedit.exe I get the message The JEditLauncher component does not appear to be installed.
  Q: When I try to run the jEdit installation package in Windows, I get an error message, Error opening registration key "software\javasoft\java runtime environment". How can I fix this?
  Q: When trying to install jEdit on Windows Me with an MS-DOS prompt, after entering java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar I get the message bad command or file name. I have tried various alternatives but still cannot install.
  Q: When I run jEdit on Windows, it flashes, blinks, and doesn't display correctly! Why is your program so buggy?

#### 1. General Problems
Q: jEdit won't start. What should I do? Q: After jEdit starts, I can't see all of the plugins I have downloaded. How can I make them appear? Q: During an editing session I get an error message about an OutOfMemoryError 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? Q: Why is jEdit's window movement and resizing so buggy? Q: What should I do when the installer displays the message, No such file or directory? Q: After downloading jeditXXXinstall.jar (the XXX represents the version number), I tried to run java jeditXXXinstall.jar, but got the error message, Exception in main(), NoClassDefFoundError: jeditXXXinstall/jar. What am I doing wrong? Q: jEdit crashed the JVM, what gives? Q: Why is jEdit so slow to start up? Q: Why is jEdit so slow? Q: Go to left/top/bottom/right docking area does not work for some plugins?
Q: | jEdit won't start. What should I do?
A: | 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: `java.exe`, `javaw.exe` or `java`. Make sure it is running by entering its full path with the `-h` 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. Next, find where you have installed jEdit. You should look for the file `jedit.jar` which contains all of the application's Java class files in a compressed archive. Once you have both files, run the Java loader with the `-jar` option and with `jedit.jar` 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 `PATH` environment variable. If jEdit does not load at this point, the likely problem is a corrupt `jedit.jar` file. Try downloading the application again. If jEdit does load using this procedure, you need to examine the “shortcut” loading mechanism you wish to use. On Linux and MacOS X, you need to find and examine the `jedit` shell script provided by the installation routine to confirm that the script's commands target the correct files and locations, and that variables like `JAVA_HOME` 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. On Windows, if you are using a batch script to run jEdit, the same points (other than file permissions) apply to examining `jedit.bat`. If you are using jEditLauncher, run `jedit /p` 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 `jedit /u` followed by `jedit /i`. If at this point you're still stuck, ask for help on the jedit-users mailing list, the jEdit Community “Installation” message board or on IRC. You're bound to find someone quickly.
Q: | After jEdit starts, I can't see all of the plugins I have downloaded. How can I make them appear?
A: | If you use jEdit's Plugin Manager to download and install plugins, your plugins will be found in the `jars` 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. The default location of the settings directory depends on your operating system. You can find out its location during a jEdit session by evaluating `jedit.getSettingsDirectory()` in BeanShell. The settings directory can be changed by using the `-settings` 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 `-settings` parameter, make sure your plugins don't get left behind.
Q: | During an editing session I get an error message about an “OutOfMemoryError” 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?
A: | 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 `-mxXXm` to the options passed to the version of the Java application loader you are using (such as `java`, `java.exe` or `javaw.exe`). In place of the `XX` 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 `-mxXXm` 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. If you are using the `-jar` command line option with Java to run jEdit, remember that the `-jar` parameter must be the last Java option, followed immediately by the path to `jedit.jar` and then any jEdit command line options. 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.
Q: | Why is jEdit's window movement and resizing so buggy?
A: | Perhaps the option to let Java draw window borders is enabled. This option can lead to strange behavior on some Java versions and operating systems. Disable it in the Appearance tab of the Utilities>Global Options dialog box.
Q: | What should I do when the installer displays the message,
    No such file or directory
?
A: | The full message that you may receive from the Java application launcher begins as follows:
    Exception in thread "main" java.util.zip.ZipException: No such file or directory
    ...
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 jEdit web site.
Q: | After downloading `jeditXXXinstall.jar` (the `XXX` represents the version number), I tried to run `java jeditXXXinstall.jar`, but got the error message,
    Exception in main(), NoClassDefFoundError: jeditXXXinstall/jar.
What am I doing wrong?
A: | You need to specify the `-jar` 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 `java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar`.
Q: | jEdit crashed the JVM, what gives?
A: | 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.
Q: | Why is jEdit so slow to start up?
A: | The most likely cause is one or more plugins that are installed. jEdit 4.1 displays loading times for plugins in the activity log. To go the Utilities menu and select Activity Log. Scroll to the area where you see lines like “[notice] JARClassLoader: Starting plugin XXX”. You should be able to see which (if any) plugins are causing an excesively long delay.
Q: | Why is jEdit so slow?
A: | 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. 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 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.
Q: | Go to left/top/bottom/right docking area does not work for some plugins?
A: | The plugin is missing a `requestDefaultFocus()` 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.
#### 2. Mac OS Problems
Q: Why are the tabs for docked windows blurry under OS X 10.2? Q: Why are the menus not in the menubar? Q: Why does jEdit freeze when I hide the application while it is starting up? Q: Why does jEdit freeze my whole system?
Q: | Why are the tabs for docked windows blurry under OS X 10.2?
A: | 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 `com.apple.hwaccel=false`. This is done for you in the Mac OS X package of jEdit 4.1.
Q: | Why are the menus not in the menubar?
A: | 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).
Q: | Why does jEdit freeze when I hide the application while it is starting up?
A: | 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.
Q: | Why does jEdit freeze my whole system?
A: | 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 here to disable hardware acceleration. Java 1.4.x does not suffer from this problem (in beta at this time).
#### 3. Unix/Linux Problems
Q: After installing jEdit on Linux, running the jedit command causes the error message: Warning: JAVA_HOME environment variable not set How can I fix this? Q: 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: java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: Ljavax/swing/text/Document; at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:native) at kaffe.jar.ExecJarName.main Q: 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.
Q: | After installing jEdit on Linux, running the `jedit` command causes the error message:
    Warning: JAVA_HOME environment variable not set
How can I fix this?
A: | Your `jedit` shell script should be modified to set the `JAVA_HOME` variable to the directory containing the executables of your desired Java runtime environment (JRE).
Q: | 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:
    java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: Ljavax/swing/text/Document; at
    				java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:native) at
    				kaffe.jar.ExecJarName.main
A: | 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.
Q: | 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.
A: | 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.
#### 4. Windows Problems
Q: When I try to run jedit.exe I get the message The JEditLauncher component does not appear to be installed. Q: When I try to run the jEdit installation package in Windows, I get an error message, Error opening registration key "software\javasoft\java runtime environment". How can I fix this? Q: When trying to install jEdit on Windows Me with an MS-DOS prompt, after entering java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar I get the message bad command or file name. I have tried various alternatives but still cannot install. Q: When I run jEdit on Windows, it flashes, blinks, and doesn't display correctly! Why is your program so buggy?
Q: | When I try to run `jedit.exe` I get the message
    The JEditLauncher component does not appear to be installed.
A: | The dialog presenting this message asks if you would like to install the launcher. Select `Yes` and supply further information as prompted. A file named `install.log` is generated in the same directory as `jedit.exe` 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.
Q: | When I try to run the jEdit installation package in Windows, I get an error message,
    Error opening registration key
    				"software\javasoft\java runtime	environment".
How can I fix this?
A: | 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 (`java.exe`e or `javaw.exe`) 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.
Q: | When trying to install jEdit on Windows Me with an MS-DOS prompt, after entering `java -jar jeditXXXinstall.jar` I get the message `bad command or file name`. I have tried various alternatives but still cannot install.
A: | You should confirm that you have a Java runtime environment installed, which will include `java.exe` and the version that omits a separate terminal window, `javaw.exe`. Make sure that the directory containing `java.exe` or `javaw.exe`is found in the value of your `PATH` environment variable. Otherwise you should give the full path to the chosen loader on your command line.
Q: | When I run jEdit on Windows, it flashes, blinks, and doesn't display correctly! Why is your program so buggy?
A: | A frequent cause of this problem is buggy video drivers and/or a buggy DirectDraw implementation. A workaround is to disable Java's use of DirectDraw by adding the following option to the Java virtual machine command line:
    -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true

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