Most Linux distributions now ship with a jpackage-utils RPM installed.
If yours doesn't, you can obtain this RPM using Repoview or the JPackage
repository browser.
YOU MUST HAVE A 'jpackage-utils' RPM INSTALLED ON YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE
INSTALLING A JDK.
Due to different licensing conditions, we only provide
nosrc RPMS for the JDKs,
or a '-compat' RPM for the Sun JDKs.
BEA and IBM provide us with the specifications for their JDKs RPMs,
which are JPP compliant. We make them available as
nosrc RPMs.
The RPM on the Sun web site requires that a corresponding '-compat' RPM
from JPackage be installed to become compatible, or alternatively one can
also rebuild a nosrc RPM for it.
YOU MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE JDK INSTALLED BEFORE INSTALLING ANY OTHER
JAVA PACKAGE.
ATTENTION:
Please install (at least) _both_ the java-<version>-<provider>
_and_ the java-<version>-<provider>-devel for a complete SDK.
(the 'java-<version>-sun-compat' provides everything for
the Sun JDK case, so there is no -devel).
If the -compat RPM for the latest Sun release is not yet available, you can request an update via the mailing list.
If the current Sun JDK is not yet packaged, you can find archived releases here.
For information on building one of the nosrc JDK RPMs from either Sun, BEA or IBM, please see Rebuilding nosrc RPMs
This step is only necessary if you want to avoid rebuilding the nosrc JDK RPM. Please note that rebuilding the nosrc RPM is the preferred method of obtaining a JPackage JDK.
Get the Sun JDK 5.0 from:
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
by choosing the "JDK 5.0 Update N" "Download" button, and then choosing "RPM in self-extracting file" for Linux on the page that displays after pressing the button.
If you prefer the older Java 1.4.2 SDK, get it from:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html
by choosing the "Download J2SE SDK" link and from there the "RPM in self-extracting file" for Linux.
Install java-1.4.2-sun-compat or java-1.5.0-sun-compat
Download and install the appropriate -compat RPM from JPackage at:
ftp://jpackage.hmdc.harvard.edu/JPackage/1.7/generic/RPMS.non-free/
Make sure to match the version of the -compat package to the SDK you've installed in the first step. The -compat RPM requires that the RPM self-extracting file from Sun be used in the previous step, not the plain (non-RPM) one.
For instance, for a Sun SDK 1.5.0_08 you should get:
and for a Sun SDK 1.4.2_12 you should use:
Selecting alternatives for java and javac.
The alternatives system allows different versions of Java from different sources to co-exist on your system. You should make sure the one you want is selected so that SysV service scripts use that one. This is also needed if you want the installed SDK to be the default java and javac on the system. Note that this choice can often be overridden by setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable.
If you are rebuilding packages that require Java 5 to build but generate code that is capable of running in JDK 1.4 as well, you probably should also set java_sdk_1.4.2 to the Java 1.4 JDK you have installed, from the same provider of your Java 5 one.
As root, issue the following command:
/usr/sbin/alternatives --config java
and make sure the Sun one is selected (marked with a '+'), or select it by entering its number as prompted.
Make sure you do the same for javac (and java_sdk_1.4.2" if needed). We recommend that all alternatives point to the same manufacturer.
Use a dependency manager (apt4rpm, up2date, urpmi, yum, etc.) to get the package you want plus all its dependencies. You can also download/install individual RPMs using Repoview or our own repository browser. For instructions just follow the links under "Download" in the navigation pane.