jdk1.6.0_12 on Ubuntu 8.04: failed installation

[Elena]

Hi,

I failed to install jdk1.6.0_12 under Ubuntu 8.04. I've tried every
guide I've found over the Internet (running the .bin,
converting .rpm.bin to deb, ecc.). The command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

still sees the old installation (1.6.0_06-b02).

However, I have a jdk1.6.0_12 folder under Desktop, which contains all
the necessary files. I hope I only have to copy them somewhere.

Any help?

Thanks

 

[Elena]

Is openjdk-6-jdk (6b11-2ubuntu2.1) the same as jdk1.6.0_11? Maybe I
could use it instead.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Is openjdk-6-jdk (6b11-2ubuntu2.1) the same as jdk1.6.0_11?

Not 100% according to:
http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp#b10

But I think you will be fine using OpenJDK.

Arne

 

[Jon Gómez]

It depends on your goal in installing it. If you only need to access it
as a single-user, then you don't need to worry about messing with things
like update-alternatives because the changes are localized to your
account. You can still run it from a terminal and use it as a browser
plugin this way.

If you are making a system-wide change, then you might want to look into
how Debian / Ubuntu manages its alternatives system (see the manpage for
update-alternatives) and whatever else shipped Java packages do to set
themselves up. Converting an RPM to a deb won't give you the
system-specific setup you need. That you will have to do by hand.
Piece of advice: If you want to install it for the whole system, put it
in /usr/local somewhere, so it doesn't clash with the distribution's
files. I think you would probably move the installation to
/usr/local/[something], change the owner, set up the alternatives
symlinks, and install the browser plugin, and maybe more--not sure.

For a single-user install test run, I downloaded the .bin version (not
the .rpm.bin), made sure the the file had executable and read
permissions, ran the file, and let it extract itself. Then I could run
the files in the output directory, simply by specifying the path to
them, something like
jre1.6.0_12/bin/java
to run Java. To enable the plugin for my browser, Firefox, I created a
symlink in ~/.mozilla/plugins to the proper plugin under
jre1.6.0_12/plugin
which for me was in i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so (may be different for
you).

Jon.

 

[Jon Gómez]

Ah, yes, you wanted to install the JDK, but it should be the same
difference, anyway, I would think, so my advice doesn't change.
Jon.