How to REINSTALL Java 6 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Question

OK, I am idiot and messed with my Java install trying to get Resin to work.

Now, things are broken. I figured I could just reinstall the developer tools that came with my new Mac (brand new 13" MacBook Pro) and that would take care of it.

Alas, I was wrong. Snow Leopard comes with Java 6 JRE and JDK but as far as I can tell YOU CANNOT EVER REINSTALL just Java, you have to reinstall the OS.

Do any Gurus on S.O. know if this is the case or, better yet, what the steps are to reinstall Java 6 back to the factory settings without reinstalling the OS?

Answer 1

Do you have the Leopard util disk?

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2009051215025819

Answer 2

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Answer 3

Snow Leopard's installer is smart enough to reinstall OS stuff and leave your prefs/files alone. Just pop in the SL DVD and it'll detect that SL is already installed and ask if you want to re-install. It should also install in such a way that 10.6.1 will still be intact after the install. I'm not 100% sure but I'd assume it will reinstall the Java frameworks as well.

Make sure you have a backup first.