Java SE 7 Update 6

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

[ Bjarne D Mathiesen wrote on Tue 21.Aug'12 at 20:49:11 +0200 ]

> When reading
> http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Java-SE-7-Update-6-hands-OS-X-support-to-Oracle-1667714.html
> it seems as if the one has to manually upgrade to this version while
> future upgrades are then done automagically by Oracle.
> 
> Now, there are 2 (two) versions : JRE & JDK.
> Which version should one install in order to best achive support for
> MacPorts ?

The JRE is the Run Time Environment which enables you, or rather certain applications like browsers, etc., to run java programs. The JDK is the Java Development Kit which includes the JRE but also has a compiler and some other tools that enable you to actually develop java programs. 

So, if you simply want to run java stuff, you only need the JRE. If you want to write and compile java code then you need the JDK.