Does Fedora Core 4 yet come with java? Its a bitch to manually install java into a distro that doesn't already come with java. I must admit that the only thing that has kept me from using fedora core 4 is the hassle of installing java. No matter how many times I retrace my steps, I never could install it correctly.

It doesn't come with Java, but I've found some installation notes on the net that tell you how to install java quite easily on FC4 (and loads of other stuff). I think there are notes for FC3 too. Check it out here. Hope this helps.

-A

It ships with GC java. Fedora will never ship with proprietary software, so if you need the java version from Sun you have to install it on your own.

Whatever you do, I don't suggest using the Java VM that comes with Fedora.

I've found it actually to be very easy to install Java on Fedora, I've done it many times.

What exactly about the install are you having trouble with? I'd be happy to steer you in the right direction.

-wc

Actually everything, but if I had to put my finger on one thing it would be making the symbolic link. Whenever I make one, its always borken.

Well, I'm not sure what symbolic links you are refering to but try this:

1) Read this http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/install-linux.html
2) Go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp
3) Download the "JDK 5.0 Update 5"
4) Make sure to grab the source and not the rpm, life is easier this way.
5) Download it to a convienent directory. (ex. /home/rick/java/)
6) Follow the instructions in 1) (namely `chmod a+x <the file you just downloaded>` , followed by `./<the file you just downloaded>` )

To be honest, the file should do everything for you, don't both with being root, it will work just as well if you install it as a normal user.

After it is all installed, you just need to run the java, or javac, or javadoc, or whatever from the /home/rick/java/jdk1.5.0/bin directory.

I would recommend either creating symlinks in /home/rick/bin to java and javac
ex:
cd /home/rick/bin
ln -s /home/rick/java/jdk1.5.0/bin/java java
ln -s /home/rick/java/jdk1.5.0/bin/javac javac

Or, you can become root and put these links in /usr/bin.
Or, you can add /home/rick/java/jdk1.5.0 to your path (I don't recommend this.)

Let me know how this goes.

-WC

Try the following method, which makes java available in everyones path

1. Download the jdk-1_5_0_05-linux-i586.bin file (not the *rpm.bin file) from java.sun.com
2. Make the file executable e.g.
   
   Code:

   #chmod +x jdk-1_5_0_05-linux-i586.bin

3. Execute the file by doing
   
   Code:

   $ ./jdk-1_5_0_05-linux-i586.bin

4. Copy the extracted directory (jdk1.5.0_05) to /opt (or /usr/local)
   
   Code:

   #cp jdk1.5.0_05 /opt/jdk1.5.0_05

5. Make a symlink as follows,
   
   Code:

   #ln -s /opt/jdk1.5.0_05 /opt/java

6. Copy the file below to /etc/profile.d, name it java.sh
   
   Code:

   #!/bin/sh
   export JAVA_HOME=/opt/java
   export MANPATH="$MANPATH:/opt/java/man"
   export PATH="$PATH:/opt/java/bin:/opt/java/jre/bin"

7. Make it executable e.g.
   
   Code:

   #chmod +x /etc/profile.d/java.sh

8. Enter the command below as a normal user and java will be in your path
   
   Code:

   $source /etc/profile

The reason why I do step 5 so that I don't have to rewrite the script for the path everytime I update java, I simply delete the old symlink and make a new one.