It’s no secret that I’m no fan of Java applications, but its also a necessary evil that I generally need to have installed on my PC. I had a few problems getting it working on my Linux (Fedora Core 5) PC though – this is what I had to do.
The Unofficial Fedora FAQ got me started; however as I didn’t want the whole Java development kit (JDK) installed – just the Java runtime environment (JRE) I downloaded the RPM installer from the Sun Java download site.
Next, I entered the following commands:
su –
chmod +x jre-1_5_0_08-linux-i586-rpm.bin
./jre-1_5_0_08-linux-i586-rpm.bin
yum –enablerepo=jpackage-generic-nonfree install java-1.5.0-sun-compat
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0_08/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
I’m not sure why the link is from the mozilla plugins folder, not from /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.6/plugins/ (as I would have expected from a LinuxQuestions.org forum post on the subject) but after a browser restart, I was able to successfully test the Java installation, which was correctly identified as Sun Microsystems Inc. Java version 1.5.0_08 on Linux OS version 2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.
The trouble with advice like this is that it quickly becomes out of date so it may be useful to read Shaun Marolf’s experience of getting JRE 5.0 update 9 working.
The reason why the symbolic links points to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/ and not to the firefox’s one is so that an upgrade in firefox will not break the use of Java in firefox. Also, if you use seamonkey or mozilla, they can use the java plugin.
Thanks for that clarification. Mark.