Why can't I run Java applets on my Fedora 8 system?

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 05:15 AM

Hi all,
My problem is that I cannot run Java applets on my newly installed fedora 8 system. I get the 'Java starting...' splash screen and everything, but after that, nothing happens.
I have tried thisbut it has not helped.

Any ideas please? I urgently need to get the applets up and running.

mrcheeks · 04-20-2008, 07:03 AM

Do you know which java version you have installed on your system? I think Fedora is using their own openjdk project now called icedtea. You should have no problem using Sun JVM.

alan_ri · 04-20-2008, 07:24 AM

Type java -version in terminal and post the output.You maybe have sun's jdk,but you are maybe not using it.You need to switch from IcedTea to sun's jdk to be the default java environment.It's always good to reboot after installing jdk.

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

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

Thats what I got. What can be done about this?

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 01:56 PM

Hello, can anyone please reply?

This has been my first hand linux experience and I didn't know linux was this buggy as well.

alan_ri · 04-20-2008, 01:59 PM

As root try to run: update-alternatives --config java
This is not a bug,this is that you do not know what you are doing.

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan_ri

As root try to run: update-alternatives --config java
This is not a bug,this is that you do not know what you are doing.

update-alternatives seems to be an unknown command.

alan_ri · 04-20-2008, 03:46 PM

Are you sure that you have sun's-jdk installed?

jay73 · 04-20-2008, 04:03 PM

icedtea is a stripped down version of the Sun JRE. It will work most of the time but then sometimes it won't. The failsafe option is still to visit Sun and install their own JRE.

Two reasons you can't find update-alternatives:
- you need to run its as root as it is a system command
- you may need to specify the full path: /sbin/update-alternatives

But if you are already using icedtea, update-alternatives isn't going to be much help. So: install Sun JRE. That will be a bit of work, though. Fedora is rather a poor choice for anyone who wants the best java support without extra effort (I stress extra effort - I'm not saying it is overly complex or even impossible - just more work).

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay73

icedtea is a stripped down version of the Sun JRE. It will work most of the time but then sometimes it won't. The failsafe option is still to visit Sun and install their own JRE.

Two reasons you can't find update-alternatives:
- you need to run its as root as it is a system command
- you may need to specify the full path: /sbin/update-alternatives

But if you are already using icedtea, update-alternatives isn't going to be much help. So: install Sun JRE. That will be a bit of work, though. Fedora is rather a poor choice for anyone who wants the best java support without extra effort (I stress extra effort - I'm not saying it is overly complex or even impossible - just more work).

Thank you for your post. I have no plans to quit fedora as long as I'm on linux but this problem seems like a bug .

But then again, the alternatives shown on that page do not work for me (yes I modified the directories while using the same methods as given on that page - according to my installation of icedtea )

So, learning from your post, does it mean that I will have to get rid of icedtea and then do a clean install of Sun's jdk? If yes, how?

PS- I had tried the update-alternatives command as root itself, and I also tried including the path. Nothing.

jay73 · 04-20-2008, 05:13 PM

Go to sun.java.com, download the jre rpm.bin to your home directory.

Make the it executable:
chmod +x file_name.rpm.bin

Execute it:
./file_name.rpm.bin

It will create a set of rpm files. Install them (you need to be root for this part) with:
rpm -ivh *rpm

Install galternatives from the fedora repositories and use it to switch the plug-in from icedtea to sun jre.

nowshining · 04-20-2008, 08:05 PM

by the way the newest java for the browsers as of this post sucks, it's worser than the last version or so they had, so expect some trouble on some sites and freezing the browser so much to where about the only way out is to open a terminal and killall it well at last it does this on my browser. :/

edit: oh yeah, and if u changed your useragent and ur using firefox expect a crash where the browser will just suddenly quit when trying to start any java apps, the only way to use a java app. seems to use the default useragent.

well at least these were the troubles I had with it on my browser.

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay73

Go to sun.java.com, download the jre rpm.bin to your home directory.

Make the it executable:
chmod +x file_name.rpm.bin

Execute it:
./file_name.rpm.bin

It will create a set of rpm files. Install them (you need to be root for this part) with:
rpm -ivh *rpm

Install galternatives from the fedora repositories and use it to switch the plug-in from icedtea to sun jre.

Ok... giving it a try. I'll update.

algogeek · 04-20-2008, 11:37 PM

Ok, no help. This seems to be a bug with Java - as shown here: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view...bug_id=6532373

Problem is, their alternatives don't work for me.

mrcheeks · 04-21-2008, 06:40 AM

This not a bug, not a bug at all... the icedtea jvm is not complete yet. I think they use gcj to run applets for now. If you use sun jvm and make it the default on your pc, it should work...

The steps below might not be simple but if you can manage them, you're done. Sorry, I can't go into deep explanations, too long :
- You need to install the sun jvm rpm
- The sun jvm needs to be the first one found in your $PATH environment variable
- The java plugin linked in the firefox plugins directory must be the one from Sun JVM

BTW, the update-alternatives command is usually found on Debian based distributions such as Ubuntu, etc.