I've downloaded some Java apps and want to get them to work.
As recommended, I've installed the JRE2 1.4.1 Standard Edition binary from Sun's website.

By doing ./configure, all the files seem to have installed in the one place as stated, which is /java to make things simpler for me.

However, how do I get the apps to work??? They are Java archive (.JAR) files, and there doesn't seem to be a straightforward way just to run them: the application websites give no guidance here whatsoever.

I have looked around the web a bit for decent, SIMPLE documentation and there doesn't seem to be much.

Just to note, I have installed the JRE on Debian 3.0: due to Sun's licensing laws, Debian does not distribute the JRE from Sun but only provides some basic Java utilities and a confusing FAQ.
Should the JRE work under Debian, or are there inherent problems with this????

Cheers for any help,
Tom

by apps do you mean the example java programs? just run "java programname" and it should run it fine, assuming your install went correctly and everything is set up. if you are expecting a java editor / IDE, then there isn't one in the JDK, they come seperately.

First you have to export JAVA_HOME(for programs requiring this feature) etc and make sure that the PATH variable also points to your jre install directory.
Next run the program by
java -jar filename.jar

if java is in your path you can start JAR programs like this: java -jar file.jar

In my previous post I added
java -jar filename.jar
Maybe it looks the same.
I wonder why you posted the same thing that I did?