I am completely lost on how to get java working on slackware? Anyone know of any tutorials or threads that have covered this in a step by step "for dummies" way?

Thanx

Rayston

When you say you want to get Java working, what do you mean? Do you want to be able to view applets on web pages/run Java programs on Slack? Do you want to develop Java programs? If the former, it'd help to know what browser you're running.

I'm assuming that you'll be installing Java, upgrading it as new versions come and that you run Mozilla as your browser - because that's what I do ;-)

I downloaded jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin from java.sun.com to my hard drive. Next I ran `chmod u+x jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin && ./jdk-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin` to install it (I installed it to /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_06 but that's just my preference). I have a symlink created with `ln -s /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_06 /usr/local/jdk` and in my /etc/profile I have the following 2 lines:
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/local/jdk"
export PATH="${JAVA_HOME}/bin:$PATH"

Next, since my mozilla package is installed under /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12 I ran `ln -s /usr/local/jdk/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.12/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so`.

That gives me access to Java in my path for tools like Eclipse as well as in my browser for applets.

I've always found it easiest to use the Java packages that come with Slackware. The JRE is in the l folder and the JDK is in extras.

Hey there man. I added those lines to /etc/profile like you specified, though i had to change /usr/local/jdk to /usr/lib/java, since apparently the bin directory is over there. I executed java -showversion and i do get the version displayed. The application that i am trying to install still cannot find java installed on my computer. What am i doing wrong? FYI, i run Slack 12. Thanks for the help.

Did you source /etc/profile (or logout and login again)? To check, can you confirm that echo $JAVA_HOME returns /usr/lib/java and that echo $PATH contains /usr/lib/java/bin?

If both of those variables are correct, I'd check the docs for the application you're trying to install and see what it requires apart from JAVA_HOME and PATH.

Thanks, i worked it out, the problem is i did so many things i can't trace back on my own steps so i can learn from what i did to get it going. Doesn't this happen very often to you guys? This is a big problem since i may stumble on the same problem more than once and the last time i didn't memorize what i did. So i'll be damned.

Thanks for the help. LQ rules.

For what it's worth, I installed everything from the 1st 2 slackware 12 CDs and java was installed along with everything else. aboutlugins in firefox shows the java plugins in use.

I take notes when I'm doing something new and bookmark links that I use as reference. I started my notes using the back of scrap paper off the printer and now have enough to fill a couple manila folders. Kind of a messy solution! If I had to start over I would keep all my notes in a bound notebook or even better a 3-ring binder so I could reorganize them.