Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition 1.3.1_09 Installation Notes

System Requirements

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.

The officially supported Linux platform for JRE 1.3.1 is Red Hat Linux 6.2, and most testing of JRE 1.3.1 for Linux has been conducted on that operating system. However, JRE 1.3.1 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.

Known Problems

Red Hat Linux 6.2 is the officially supported Linux platform for JRE 1.3.1. Limited testing has been done on other Linux operating systems, and 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. Limited testing has revealed problems when using J2SDK with Red Hat Linux 7.0, some of which are described below.
• The newer glibc-2.2.x libraries cannot correctly handle initial thread stack sizes larger than 6 MB. This can cause a segmentation fault on come Linux platforms that use the newer libraries. Such platforms include Red Hat 7.0, SuSe 7.2, and Debian 2.2. The problem will not occur on Linux platforms that are using glibc-2.1.x such as Red Hat 6.1 and 6.2. It will also not affect Red Hat 7.1 because it uses a different thread stack layout. This problem is being tracked as bug 4466587.

  Workaround - Use " ulimit -s 2048" in bash shell or " limit stacksize 2048" in tcsh to limit the initial thread stack to 2 MB.

• 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.
• On Red Hat Linux 7.0, if you want to use the Classic VM rather than one of the Java HotSpot VMs in J2SDK 1.3.1, you must download and install glibc-2.2-9.i386.rpm file available at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHBA-2000-079.html. Do not install the i686 files available on that same web page, as those will prevent proper functioning of the Java HotSpot VMs in J2SDK 1.3.1.
• 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.

• When using Red Hat Linux versions other than 6.1, the font.properties file may fail to display some Symbol/Dingbats characters properly on some AWT components. To correct this, use this revised font.properties file to replace the one at <JAVA_HOME>/jre/lib/.
• 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

  • Some users have reported that to get Java runtime environment 1.3.1 to work on Debian 2.2, they had to install libstdc++2.9-glibc2.1 from the oldlibs archive.

  Installation Instructions

  Note: For any lines on this page containing the following notation, you must substitute the appropriate update version number for the notation.

  <version number>

  For example, if you are downloading update 1.3.1_01, the following command:

  ./j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586.bin

  would become:

  ./j2re-1_3_1_01-linux-i586.bin

  The Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE), Standard Edition, v1.3.1 is available in two installation formats.

  • A self-extracting binary file, j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586.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 .
  • The file j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586-rpm.bin that contains RPM packages comprising the Java 2 Runtime Environment. If you are using this bundle, see Installation of RPM File .

After you install the J2RE, you will be able to install the Java Plug-in also. Refer to Java Plug-in installation instructions.

Installation of Self-Extracting Binary

1. Check the download file size

If the file size doesn't match, it probably means the file was corrupted during download. In that case, try downloading again.

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

   cd /usr/java

3. Run j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586.bin and agree to the license it displays.

chmod a+x j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586.bin

                                 

./j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586.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.

Installation of RPM File

1. Check the download file size.

   Before you download a file, notice that its byte size is provided on the download page. Once the download has completed, check that you have downloaded the full, uncorrupted software file.

   If the file size doesn't match, it probably means the file was corrupted during download. In that case, try downloading again.

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 the script is located:

   Copy

   
   
   chmod a+x j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586-rpm.bin
                                    
   
   ./j2re-1_3_1_<version number>-linux-i586-rpm.bin
   
   

   The script will display a binary license agreement, which you will be asked to agree to before installation can proceed. Once you have agreed to the license, the install script will create the file jre-1.3.1_<version number>.i386.rpm in the current directory.

3. Become root by running the su command and entering the super-user password.
4. Run the rpm command to install the packages:

   rpm -iv jre-1.3.1_<version number>.i386.rpm

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

5. Exit the root shell.

Java Plug-in Installation Instructions

To install the Java Plug-in follow these steps.

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

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

2. Set the NPX_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable:

   export NPX_PLUGIN_PATH=<jre>/plugin/i386/ns4

   Here, <jre> is the path to the top-level directory of your Java 2 Runtime Environment installation.

3. For Netscape 6 browsers: Create a symbolic link in the Netscape plugins directory

   If (and only if) you are using Netscape 6, you will need to create a symbolic link in the Netscape plugins directory to the path of the libjavaplugin_oji.so file. This file is located within the Java 2 SDK at jre/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so.

   Copy

   
   
   cd ${NETSCAPE6}/plugins
   ln -s ${JRE}/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so .
   

4. Start (or restart) your Netscape browser.

   Start your Netscape browser. If your browser is already running, close it and restart it.

5. Close and restart your Netscape browser again. Restarting the browser a second time is necessary because of bug 4358142

Installation Notes

• Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition
• Version 1.3.1
• Linux

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