Not a bash, just the facts

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 23 March 2006 06:12, Chanchao wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-03-22 at 09:51 -0400, Derek Broughton wrote:
> > > (I just checked back at the instructions for installing the
> > > java stuff and it's completely rediculous.  (Java / JRE is
> > > needed to run many web sites and even some functions in
> > > software that comes with Ubuntu) )
> >
> > I can't even get Windows to install Java any easier than with
> > Ubuntu, so where's the real problem?  You download a zip file
> > from Sun and uncompress it.  If you want it automatically, you
> > can even get it from multiverse. Yes, Ubuntu could do a better
> > job of explaining how to get it, but it's Sun that makes it a
> > hassle, not Ubuntu.
>
> Well, let's see.  On windows (IF you need Sun's JRE in the first
> place because all websites seem to run fine without it) you click
> the download link and let it open up.

Actually, it's click to download, double click to run the installer, 
click-click-click-click-click-accept through the wizard. Then it 
installs.

And Linux is not Windows, so comparing them is not valid. Analogy: you 
are complaining that your helicopter doesn't have a steering wheel 
like your car does.

>
> On Ubuntu, from the wiki:
>
> ------------
> -----------
>
> I wasn't kidding when I called this rediculous!! :)

I think you are trolling. Either that or you don't understand Linux 
and/or package managers.

Sun's download bundle contains the JRE files. For security reasons, 
and because it's damn good policy, the contained files do not have 
the executable bit set. You have to do that manually. Install 
into /opt and away you go.

That works fine on Solaris or Slack which don't have package managers 
to speak of. On most Linuxes, the system does not know you now have a 
JRE. To gain that extra advantage, you make a .deb out of it, and 
most of that Wiki page describes that procedure. You can omit it if 
you want and just follow Sun's instructions instead. It still works, 
without some extra features provided by the platform.
-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five