title: Is there a Java EE JDK
body: <p>I know this has been asked a million times and I did do my homework, but the one last thing I don't fully understand is, is there a "Java <strong>EE</strong> JDK" ?</p>
  
  <p>When I download the SDK, it tries to install lots of crap I don't want. So I did some reading and realized that actually the Java SDK is a set of tools technically unrelated to the JDK. So what I am looking for is a clean simple standalone download of the JDK only.</p>
  
  <p>We know that "Java SE JDK" has always been <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html">available</a> from Sun's (now Oracle) website. However, I am developing a web application and interested in <em>some</em> of the Java EE features: javax.servlet, javax.validation, javax.persistence and javax.transaction. So in effect what I'm really looking for is a "Java EE JDK".</p>
  
  <p>I'm using a typical Maven / Tomcat / Spring / Hibernate setup and in the past I've always added API-only dependencies in provided scope in Maven to my project for these parts of the Java EE specification, i.e:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;dependency&gt;
      &lt;groupId&gt;javax.servlet&lt;/groupId&gt;
      &lt;artifactId&gt;servlet-api&lt;/artifactId&gt;
      &lt;version&gt;2.5&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;/dependency&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So if I do this for all the Java EE APIs that my project requires, then I am actually using Java SE JDK with some additional manually-declared Java EE components. Furthermore when I direct my IDE to use the JDK that came with the Java EE SDK installation, these additional namespaces aren't available.</p>
  
  <p>In other words, for all intents and purposes it would appear that the JDK that comes with the Java EE SDK download is equivalent to the JDK that I get when I install the "Java SE JDK"... If this is correct then there is no need for me to install the Java EE SDK and I can simply use the Java (SE) JDK declaring any Java EE components that I need as *-api/provided dependencies the way I described above.</p>
  
  <p>So my questions is: is what I describe above the right way to go, or is there such a thing as a "Java EE JDK"? i.e a JDK that comes with the unimplemented interfaces of things like javax.servlet and javax.resources and so on? And if such a beast exists, where would I download it from?</p>