Installing Java on Debian ... using instructions from this website ... http://www.crazysquirrel.com/debian/...l-sun-java.php ..., which is very concise and helpful.

But I am a little confused by this instruction, quote:
Dealing with Packages that Require JAVA_HOME
Unlike a lot of packages many (most) Java packages need to know where the Java VM is installed and they do this through use of an environment variable called JAVA_HOME. You can set this for each package or you can set this globally in "/etc/profile". Some packages, such as Tomcat, that are started by an init script will need to know where Java is installed in order to start at boot time. Since they don't run in a shell they don't read "/etc/profile".

Step 1 - Create a Virtual Java
This step is not mandatory but it will make life much easier in the long run. All versions of Java you install will be placed in /usr/lib with names like j2sdk1.5-sun. Create a symlink to one of these called java using the following command:
--- ln -s /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun /usr/lib/java
Keep this link uptodate and pointing at which ever version of Java you want as the default.

End quote ...

So ... Am I supposed to put that link in /etc/profile/ or in the boot script ...?

No, you are supposed to type this:

ln -s /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun /usr/lib/java

link -symbolic source linktosource

No, you are supposed to type this:

I know that ... but where am I supposed to type it.

At the command prompt as root. I'm going to spitball here and say that you're a programmer, right?

I'm going to spitball here and say that you're a programmer, right?

Yeah, I am, which is probably why I don't get the connection.

I'm new to Debian, tho, and maybe I'm confused, but my assumption would be that typing the ln command at a prompt would only take care of the issue for this session ... I want the link to be there every time I boot into Linux.

OK. I typed it in at the root prompt, and it seems to have worked. Don't understand how, tho.

A symbolic link is just a file on the filesystem (a link file) that points to another file (it's somewhat like a Windows shortcut file). So it will always be there, for every session. That's why it works for every session.