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Installation Notes

Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition
Version 1.4.0
Linux

System Requirements

To print on Linux, the /usr/sbin/lpc utility must be installed. This is a standard Linux utility. On Red Hat 7.1, for example, this utility is in the "LPRng-3.7.4-22 RPM" package.

Check your version of glibc using the following command:

ls /lib/libc-*

You should have about 45 megabytes of free disk space before attempting to install the Java 2 Runtime Environment.

Red Hat versions 7.1 and 6.2 are the officially supported platforms. Most testing of J2SDK 1.4.0 for Linux has been conducted on Red Hat 7.1 with the sawfish window manager and Red Hat 6.2 with the Gnome desktop, and these are the officially supported platforms. However, J2SDK 1.4.0 has undergone limited testing on other Linux operating systems. The following table shows the Linux platforms, by locale, on which Sun has tested this release to at least a limited extent. See below for information about Known Problems on various Linux operating systems.

Limited testing has been performed on these Linux platforms

Known Problems
Red Hat Linux 6.2 and 7.1 are the officially supported platforms for Java RE 1.4.0, though limited testing has been performed on other operating systems. The following are known problems on the non-supported platforms.

• Behavior in comformance with the API specification is not guaranteed while running as superuser on any version of Linux whose kernel was compiled with the CONFIG_IP_TRANSPARENT_PROXY option. The default kernel shipped with the Red Hat 6.2 distribution is compiled with this option. To avoid incompatibilities associated with this problem, either do not use the Java platform while superuser or else upgrade to a Linux operating system whose kernel was not compiled with the CONFIG_IP_TRANSPARENT_PROXY option. Red Hat 7.1 ships with the version 2.4 kernel which does not have this problem.

• If you use Red Hat Linux 7, we recommend version 7.1 rather than 7.0.

• When System.exit(int) is invoked on Red Hat 7.0, the program never exits with a non-zero value. This problem is apparently due to a bug in the exit function in libc.so library. To avoid this problem, use the supported Red Hat release, version 6.2, or, if you want to use Red Hat 7, use version 7.1 rather than 7.0.

• If you use Red Hat Linux 7 Server, you must manually install compat-libstdc++-6.21-2.9.0.0.i386.rpm to prevent "error while loading shared libraries" when using the Java HotSpot VMs. This file is located in the /RedHat/RPMS directory on the Red Hat Linux 7 CD-ROM. You may also obtain a copy of this file from http://rpmfind.net. To install the file, use this command:

  rpm --install compat-libstdc++-6.21-2.9.0.0.i386.rpm
  

  It is not necessary to manually install compat-libstdc++-6.21-2.9.0.0.i386.rpm if you are using Red Hat Linux 7 Workstation.

• Caldera OpenLinux uses version 2.1.2-3 of glibc. Because that version is not greater than or equal to 2.1.2-11, the Java 2 SDK's rpm installer will fail during its dependency check. We recommend that you obtain an updated version of the glibc library available from Caldera at the following locations:

  ftp.caldera.com:/pub/updates/eDesktop/2.4/current/RPMS
  

  or

  ftp.caldera.com:/pub/updates/eServer/2.3/current/RPMS
  

Installation Instructions

• A self-extracting binary file, j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.bin which can be used to install the Java 2 Runtime Environment in a location chosen by the user. If you are using this file, see Self-Extracting Binary below.

• The file j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386-rpm.bin that contains RPM packages comprising the Java 2 Runtime Environment. If you are using this bundle, see Installation of RPM File below.

After you install the Java RE, you will be able to install the Java Plug-in and Java Web Start products also. Java Plug-in installation instructions and Java Web Start installation instructions are included below.

Installation of Self-Extracting Binary

Use these instructions if you want to use the self-extracting binary file to install the Java 2 Runtime Environment. If you want to install RPM packages, use Installation of RPM File below.

1. Check the download file size

Check the large file that you downloaded to ensure that it is the correct size:

j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.bin     21826430 bytes

2. Change to the directory you want to install into.

For example, if you want to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, then execute:

   cd /usr/java

3. Run j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.bin and agree to the license it displays.

Launch the installation scripts by using the following commands from the directory in which it is located:

chmod a+x j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.bin

./j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.bin

Note about root access - If you choose to install the Java 2 Runtime Environment into system-wide location such as /usr/local, you must first become root to gain the necessary permissions. If you do not have root access, simply install the Java 2 Runtime Environment into your home directory, or a subdirectory that you have permission to write to.

Use these instructions if you want to install Java 2 Runtime Environement in the form of RPM packages. If you want to use the self-extracting binary file instead, see Self-Extracting Binary above.

1. Check the download file size.

Check the large file that you downloaded to ensure that it is the correct size:

j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386-rpm.bin     21278068 bytes

2. Run the installation script and agree to the license it displays.

Launch the installation script by using the following commands from the directory in which it is located:

chmod a+x j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386-rpm.bin

./j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386-rpm.bin

3. Become root by running the su command and entering the super-user password.

4. Uninstall Previous Beta Version

Note: The default installation location for the RPM package installation of Java RE 1.4.0 is /usr/java/j2re1.4.0. That is the same location in which Beta and other pre-releases were installed. To clear the way for installation of Java RE 1.4.0, in this step you will uninstall any pre-release versions that may exist on your machine. Skip this step if you have not installed any pre-release versions.

If you have previously installed the package for a Java RE 1.4.0 pre-release, remove it. If you are not sure if you have a previous Beta version installed, run this command:

rpm -query -a | grep j2re-1.4.0

To remove the Beta package:

rpm -e j2re-1.4.0-beta

To remove the Beta 2 package:

rpm -e j2re-1.4.0-beta2

To remove the Beta 3 package:

rpm -e j2re-1.4.0-beta3

5. Run the rpm command to install the packages:

rpm -iv j2re-1_4_0-linux-i386.rpm

This will install the packages comprising the Java 2 Runtime Environment.

6. Exit the root shell.

Installation of Java Plug-in

To install the Java Plug-in follow these steps.

1. Uninstall previous installation of the Java Plug-in, if applicable.

rm -fr $HOME/.netscape/java
rm $HOME/.netscape/plugins/javaplugin.so
rm $HOME/.netscape/plugins/libjavaplugin.so

One or more of these files may not exist on your machine, depending on which previous versions of Java Plug-in you have installed.

2. For Netscape 4.x browsers: Set the NPX_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable to the directory containing the javaplugin.so file. This file is located inside the Java 2 SDK in the jre/plugin/i386/ns4/ directory. This step is not necessary if you use only Netscape 6.x browsers.

3. For Netscape 6.x browsers: Use the regxpcom tool provided by Netscape to register Java Plug-in 1.4.

If and only if you are using Netscape 6.x browsers, you will need to use regxpcom provided by Netscape to register the libjavaplugin_oji140.so file. In the package installation of J2SDK 1.4.0, copies of this file are located at /usr/j2se/jre/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji140.so and /usr/j2se/jre/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji140.so. For example:

cd ${NETSCAPE6}/bin

If you use a Netscape 6.0x browser:

regxpcom ${JRE}/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji140.so

If you use a Netscape 6.1x browser:

regxpcom ${JRE}/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji140.so

After running the regxpcom command you should get a message saying that registration was successful for <jre>/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji140.so

If regxpcom does not register the Java Plug-in successfully—i.e., you get a registration-failed message or a core dump—try creating a link to the Java Plug-in libjavaplugin.so file in the Netscape 6 plugins directory.

cd <Netscape 6>/plugins
ln -s <JRE>/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji140.so .

Be sure to include the period at the end.

Note: Only one Java Plug-in can be registered at a time. When you want to use a different version, unregister the one you have and register the new version.

regxpcom -u <absolute path to Java Plug-in libjavaplugin.so file>

Example:

regxpcom -u ${JRE}/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji140.so
regxpcom ${JRE}/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji141.so

4. For all Netscape browsers: Start your Netscape browser, or restart it if it is already up.

In Netscape do Help -> About Plug-ins to confirm that the Java Plug-in is loaded.

Java Web Start Installation Instructions

Java RE 1.4.0 includes the Java Web Start product. Inside the Java RE's top-level directory you will find a ZIP file named javaws-1_0_1_02-linux-int.zip. Move this file to a location where you want to install the Java Web Start product (preferably outside the Java 2 SDK installation). Unzip the file. One of the files extracted will be install.sh. Run this script to install the Java WebStart product.