Installing and configuring iBATIS - iBATIS in Action - page 59

used to add i BATIS to your application, and full source code with debugging infor-
mation available when necessary.

3.1.1 Binary distribution

This approach is the quickest and easiest way to get started with i BATIS . Because
the distribution comes prebuilt, you can simply download it, unpack it, and get
started using it.

The binary distribution of i BATIS is currently available at
http://ibatis.apache.org.

NOTE

The binary distribution of i BATIS contains the precompiled JAR files required to
use i BATIS , all of the relevant Java source code that was used to build it, and the
basic documentation as well.

3.1.2 Building from source

If you are interested in enhancing the framework, fixing a bug, or if you just want
to build it from source so that you know exactly what you have, you can obtain a
copy from the Subversion repository and build it yourself from that source. Chap-
ter 12 will delve into the details of building i BATIS in the context of extending the
framework, so this section will be somewhat brief, but you should find enough
information to get you started.

The Subversion (or SVN) repository that is referred to here is the version
control system used by all new Apache projects. Subversion is a replace-
ment for the Concurrent Version System ( CVS ) that has been used on
many open source projects in the past. The purpose of SVN is to provide
an environment where changes to the framework can be made without
fear of losing source code (because each developer has a copy of it, and
the server has multiple copies of it).
If you want to learn more about Subversion, its home page is
http://subversion.tigris.org/.
The Subversion repository for i BATIS is currently located at
http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ibatis/.

NOTE

Digging into the repository
The Subversion repository includes both a batch file for Windows and a bash shell
script for Linux to build the entire i BATIS distribution. This means that, once you
have the source, the only requirement is that you have a JDK installed and that you
have JAVA_HOME set properly.