Sun Java installation issues

[thufir]

On Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:23:52 -0500, Glenn Holmer wrote:

> On Tue, 2008-10-07 at 13:29 -0300, Derek Broughton wrote:
>> >> update-java-alternatives
>> > 
>> > No. That won't fix 'java -version' and /etc/alternatives. That's why
>> > I use galternatives to modify.
>> 
>> It's what I've always used.  It _has_ to set up /etc/alternatives
> 
> /etc/alternatives is the product of a diseased mind.
> 
> 1) download self-extracting file from Sun 2) extract in /usr/lib (or
> wherever you think appropriate) 3) create symlink e.g. java ->
> jdk1.6.0_10/ 4) create whatever.sh in /etc/profile.d containing: export
> PATH=/usr/lib/java/bin:$PATH
> 
> Bypasses the evil /etc/alternatives, although you have to set up the
> browser plugin manually as described earlier.
> 
> To upgrade, just repeat steps one and two, then delete and recreate the
> symlink.  In fact, you can easily automate changing the symlink with a
> script if you want to have multiple versions on the machine.
> 
> Having said all that, it ought to be way easier for the average person
> to upgrade Java on a Linux box...



Err, yeah.  Why can't the package manager handle all of that?


-Thufir