To get the latest release jBPM 3 version, go to the jBPM jPDL 3 package on Sourceforge.net and download the latest installer.

The jBPM installer creates a runtime installation and it can also download and install the eclipse designer and a jboss server. You can use jBPM also without application server, but all of these components are preconfigured to interoperate out-of-the-box to get you started with jBPM quickly. To launch the installer, open a command line and go to the directory where you downloaded it. Then type:

java -jar jbpm-installer-{version}.jar

Step through the instructions. Any supported version of JBoss and the exact version of eclipse can optionally be downloaded by the installer.

When installing jBPM into JBoss, this will create a jBPM directory into a server configuration's deploy directory. All jBPM files are centralized inside this deploy/jbpm directory. No other files of your JBoss installation will be touched.

You can use your own eclipse (if it is version 3.4+) or you can use the eclipse that the installer downloaded. To install the graphical process designer in eclipse, just use the eclipse update mechanism (Help --> Software Updates --> ...) and point it to the file designer/jbpm-jpdl-designer-site.zip.