Java Runtime and Java Plugins for Mozilla (Firefox)

[Daniel Robitaille]

> So in retrospect, I think what I did was grab j2re 1.5 from
> java.sun.com (as opposed to just java.com). I could be wrong but I'm
> pretty sure the current stable version of this Java stuff is 1.5.

interesting.  For a few years now  I have always downloaded what's
available on java.com instead of on sun.com.  Never realized that they
were not synchronized.
I suspect on sun.com is the cutting edge ("sarge"), while java.com is
the older but reliable version (woody :) ).

> 
> I thought I'd try Daniel's procedure to get the plugin working in
> Firefox. It worked flawlessly with one exception - the .so file was in
> a different place. Here's the command I used:
> 
> sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/jdk1.5.0/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .
> 
> Hopefully that was correct.

it should be fine.  (ns7= netscape 7; close enough to Firefox).  In
the semi-recent past you had to be careful and pick the plugin from
the java package that best fit your distro/mozilla (netscape 4 vs
netscape6/7, and gcc2.95 vs 3.2) to get it to work.  Probably less an
issue nowadays

> Is there a
> reason why Sun's installer doesn't just copy (or symlink) that file in
> the right place automagically? Maybe some kinda legal issue or because
> of the layout of the different distros?

they are many different layouts out there.  Even on my machine I
actually use Firefox 1.0 manually installed in my /usr/local so the
plugins have to go there. They probably go the only possibly route by
not creating any symlinks.

And personally I findthe best installers are the ones like this one
from Sun:  it simply extract a directory, and I install it myself
wherever  I want on my system, and then I create whatever symlinks I
need manually. You don't even need to be root if you leave it in your
home directory.  I hate installers that blindly create symlink for you
in the background (while running as root) and you are left guessing
which parts of your OS were posslbly screwed up by the installer.