Hello everyone,
I am a person completely new to programming and to Linux, so please bear with me. I am trying to install the new Java 1.5 compiler under Mandriva Linux 1.5. I went to this website at Sun and followed the directions to the letter, using the rpm installation:http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/insta...ml#install-pkg

I logged in as "root" so all users of my computer would be able to use the Java compiler. Now, when I'm in my home directory, and I use the vi editor to create a simple "Hello, Sean!" program and then try to compile it, I get this at the command prompt:

[swilliams@localhost ~]$ javac Hello.java
bash: javac: command not found
[swilliams@localhost ~]$ ./javac Hello.java
bash: ./javac: No such file or directory

Ok. So then I did some hunting in my file system, thinking that my "Java software" might be elsewhere then my home directory. So then I found the location of the JRE and JDK to be here:

[swilliams@localhost ~]$ cd /usr/java
[swilliams@localhost java]$ ls
jdk1.5.0_03/ jre1.5.0_03/
[swilliams@localhost java]$

So then, I copied the Hello.java program to the jdk1.5.0_03/ directory, and still no luck. So then I logged in as root, and compiled it and it compiled OK. Now, I DO NOT WANT to have to log in as root and change into that directory every time I write a java program obviously. Could someone please help me out here? Thank you in advance.

Sean W.

You need to add the directory with the javac executable to your $PATH. You should do this in your shell start-up file to make it permanent. If you search these forums, you'll find plenty of examples for how to do this.

Ok, I opened up my ".bash_profile" file under my home directory and commented out a line and add one, so it now looks like this:

# .bash_profile

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
. ~/.bashrc
fi

# User specific environment and startup programs

#PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin <-------------------- LINE I COMMENTED OUT
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03/bin/ <---------------LINE I ADDED

export PATH
unset USERNAME

But still no luck....here's what happens:

[swilliams@localhost ~]$ ./javac Hello.java
bash: ./javac: No such file or directory

I also tryed using "ln -s /usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03/bin/ /usr/bin" as root, but still no luck. :-(

Ok...I figured it out. I went to this site: http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialJava.html

and edited my .bash_profile file like this:

# .bash_profile

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
. ~/.bashrc
fi

# User specific environment and startup programs

#PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
PATH=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03/bin:$PATH:$HOME/bin:./

export PATH
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03
export CLASSPATH=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03/lib/tools.jar:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_03/jre/lib/rt.jar:./

unset USERNAME
~

Incidentally,

for some reason now, when I execute my C programs.... i no longer have to type "./a.out"...I can just type "a.out" or the name of the executable...that's weird...anyone know why? And with Java, I can just use "java <name_of_class>" instead of prefixing <name_of_class> with "./"....I'm curious...can anyone tell me why...I don't know anything about shell scripting...

Because you added the current working directory "." to your PATH. As a user, this isn't really a problem, but be careful when doing it as root, and always addd the current working directory to the END of the path (else you miught get surprised).