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Installation instructions need updates for Windows

Open jordanpadams opened this issue 1 year ago • 4 comments

Checked for duplicates

Yes - I've already checked

🐛 Describe the bug

Per user, numerous issues identified by user for windows installation.

🕵️ Expected behavior

I expected installation instructions would be valid

📜 To Reproduce

PATH In https://nasa-pds.github.io/validate/install/index.html#windows-environment, the command to append Path is given as:   

C:\> set PATH = %PATH%;C:\Program Files\validate-3.2.0\bin

but would be best given as:

C:\> set Path=%Path%;C:\Program Files\validate-3.2.0\bin

The variable name is case-sensitive and must be specified as Path, there should be no space between the variable name and =, and all spaces after = are treated as part of the value. Strictly, the (case-insensitive) interpolation could use %PATH%, but %Path% seems clearer.

JAVA_HOME In https://nasa-pds.github.io/validate/install/index.html#windows-environment, the command to set JAVA_HOME is given as:

C:\> set JAVA_HOME = C:\path\to\java\home

but should be:

C:\> set JAVA_HOME=C:\path\to\java\home

Also, someone passingly acquainted with Windows commands might expect that double-quotes are required for paths with spaces (as they are for some commands), but that is not the case here. To clue the user to this, it might be helpful to choose an example path with spaces, such as:

C:\> set JAVA_HOME=C:\path to java\home

or an example related to the default Java directory:

C:\> set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\some-jre-version

Windows 64-bit JRE: The current instructions explicitly direct the user to install 64-bit JRE, which is helpful. However, I note that the 32-bit JRE is the default on Windows. Indeed, the online installer for Windows on the All Operating Systems page (https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp) only installs the 32-bit JRE, even though this is not explicitly stated on the download page. Worse yet, the only JRE on the Windows-only download page (https://www.java.com/download/ie_manual.jsp) is 32-bit (though this is not stated), and that page is the first hit on a Google search for "java download" (at least, from my system). Therefore, it might help to highlight the 64-bit caveat in the installation instructions and include a reference to https://nasa-pds.github.io/validate/operate/errors.html#Invalid_maximum_heap_size under https://nasa-pds.github.io/validate/install/index.html#Verifying_the_Installation.

🖥 Environment Info

Windows OS

📚 Version of Software Used

No response

🩺 Test Data / Additional context

No response

🦄 Related requirements

No response

⚙️ Engineering Details

No response

jordanpadams avatar Oct 05 '23 17:10 jordanpadams