Over the weekend I started exploring a new technology project that I’d set myself. I’ll post more about it when I have more to tell. The software I’m using requires Java. Ubuntu, my Linux distribution of choice, ships with the GNU libgcj version of java. You can read more about this version of Java at the GNU Compiler for Java website. Unfortunately, the software I’m using doesn’t work with the GNU implementation of Java, it must be used with the Sun version of Java.
Fortunately Ubuntu does come with the Sun version of Java for Linux, to get it you’ll need to enable the Multiverse repository. I’m using the Edgy release of Ubuntu so this is the package that I can install. There are many tutorials on how to enable the Multiverse repository so I’m not going to cover that here.
Once the Multiverse repository is enabled installing Java is as easy as entering the following command.
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk
You can also use Synaptic or aptitude if you prefer.
After the package is installed it is advisable to make it the default for running Java applications. This is as easy as entering the following command (all on one line of course).
sudo update-alternatives --set java /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/jre/bin/java
I have found that one of the programs I needed to use required a JAVA_HOME variable to be set. When I did this I found I needed to specify the full path, /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/.
The image of the coffee cup was found using the everystockphoto.com search engine. It is hosted on Flickr and was uploaded by user sh0dan.
