To build the NeuClear framework you first need to install Maven. Follow their installation instructions and you should be ok. I haven't tried this under windows yet, but I'm guessing it should work fine. Maven fetches all the required libraries you need the first time you attempt to build it. There are however two required libraries that are not yet part of their central repository. Some of the required libraries are not in maven's own repositories, we have our own maven repository at http://neuclear.org/maven/ and the project is setup to get all the latest from there.
Simply unpack it in mavens home directory retaining the directory structure and you should be allright.
The easiest way to use Crypto is to register the BouncyCastle Crypto provider using the following line of code in your java code:
org.neuclear.commons.crypto.CryptoTools.ensureProvider();
Alternatively you can install it as a system wide crypto provider. Get the latest version of Bouncy Castle Crypto. For Bouncy Castle Crypto you need a JCE and a provider. If you're using JDK1.4 you will allready have a JCE. Otherwise the easiest thing todo is to get their combined JCE/Provider. I would also recommend getting the signed jar for your version of the JDK and install it as an extension in $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext.
Remember to edit your $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/java.security file as well. Adding the following line:
security.provider.6=org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider
Making sure to change the 6 to whatever the last number is in the sequence of providers
Unpack the source and binary distributions. Familiarise yourself a bit with maven. It's a bit different than ant, but very easy to learn. To see the options available go to the type:
~/projects/neuclear-commons> maven -g
Of these the most important one is to simply type:
~/projects/neuclear-commons> maven jar:install
This builds neuclear-commons and places it in the default repository.