Installing the Java Plug-In for Linux

JavaTM is provided, managed, and maintained by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Please visit the Java home page for support, downloads, and the latest information about Java.

These installation instructions are adapted from Sun's installation instructions for Linux.
See About the Java Plug-In for more information and links.

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

  1. Download the installation script.
  2. Verify the size of the installation file.
    The version we mirror should be 13,863,898 bytes (1.4.2_14).
  3. Run the installation script.
    In the directory where you saved the script, run
    chmod a+x j2re-1_4_2_14-linux-i586-rpm.bin
    ./j2re-1_4_2_14-linux-i586-rpm.bin
    If you agree to the license, the script will create the file j2re-1.4.2_14.i586.rpm
  4. Become root by running su
  5. Run the package manager to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
    rpm -iv j2re-1.4.2_14.i586.rpm
  6. exit the root shell.
  7. Remove the previous version of the Java Plug-in (if any):
    rm -fr $HOME/.netscape/java
    rm $HOME/.netscape/plugins/javaplugin.so
  8. Set the NPX_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable.
    export NPX_PLUGIN_PATH=JRE/plugin/i386/ns4
    where JRE is the path to the JRE. Usually, this will be /usr/java/j2re1.4.2_14 You should also add this command to your startup script (or to /etc/profile to make it available to all users).
  9. If you are using Netscape 6 or Mozilla, create a symbolic link in the browser plugins directory:
    cd NETSCAPE/plugins
    ln -s JRE/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so .
    where JRE is as before, and NETSCAPE is the installation directory of your browser (usually /usr/local/netscape or /usr/local/mozilla).
  10. Close and reopen your browser.
  11. Close and reopen your browser again. (Restarting the browser a second time after installation is the workaround for bug 4358142).

Tested Platforms

Locale Linux platform tested
English Red Hat Linux 6.2 (Officially supported version)
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Caldera OpenLinux 2.4
Mandrake Linux 7.1
Turbo Linux Workstation 6.0
SuSe Linux 6.4
German Red Hat Linux 6.2
Japanese Red Hat Linux 6.2J
Red Hat Linux 6.2J Second Edition
Simplified Chinese Turbo Linux Workstation 6.0

According to Sun, Red Hat Linux 6.2 is the officially supported version of Linux, and the one on which the Java Plug-In has received the most testing. We have also had good luck with the Java Plug-In on Red Hat 7.1-7.3 and 8.0.

Known Issues

Situation Problem Workaround
  • Kernel 2.x
  • CONFIG_IP_TRANSPARENT_PROXY option
  • Running as root
Behavior in comformance with the API specification is not guaranteed
  1. Do not run as root
  2. Use a kernel compiled without CONFIG_IP_TRANSPARENT_PROXY
Red Hat 7.0 Various problems (some listed below) Use Red Hat 7.1 or higher
glibc-2.2.x
(e.g. Red Hat 7.0, SuSe 7.2, and Debian 2.2)		 Cannot handle initial thread stacks larger than 6 Mb.
This can cause a segmentation fault.
  1. Use Red Hat 6.1, 6.2, or 7.1 or later.
  2. Use ulimit -s 2048 in bash or limit stacksize 2048 in tcsh to limit the initial thread stack size to 2 Mb.
  • RedHat Linux 7 Server (not Workstation)
  • Java HotSpot VM
"Error while loading shared libraries" Manually install compat-libstdc++-6.21-2.9.0.0.i386.rpm from /RedHat/RPMS on the RedHat Linux 7 CD-ROM.
Caldera OpenLinux RPM installer fails dependency check on glibc-2.1.2-3 Obtain newer glibc from
Debian 2.2 Various problems Install libstdc++2.9-glibc2.1 from the oldlibs archive.