I installed the Sun JDK SE rpm package (as Sun says "RPM packages are the recommended method for installation on Linux" ) on my Fedora 8 machine with installation instructions from Sun site. But when I verify the installation by :
# java -version

I get,

java version "1.7.0"
IcedTea Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0-b21)
IcedTea Client VM (build 1.7.0-b21, mixed mode)

where as I expect (it shoud hhave been) something like:


java version "1.6.0_01"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_01-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0_01-b06, mixed mode, sharing)

The rpm query output shows me the installed JDK (jdk-1.6.0_05-fcs).

Have I missed something during installation? How can I get it working?

Use:
$ rpm -q --filesbypkg jdk | less
to see where the package files live.

It looks like you may need to update your PATH to include the bin directory installed by Sun java. Make sure it precedes the bin directory used by the other java.

Example (yours may differ): /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_05/bin

While you're at it you should probably update JAVA_HOME as well. Both can be set in ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile.