Firefox 2.0.0.5 and JRE 6.0.2
 

I've looked at every thread I can find regarding Firefox and JRE 6 and nothing seems to offer a solution to my problem. I tried to install JRE 6.0 from the RPM file and came up with several screens' worth of unsatisfied dependencies. I then tried installing from the .bin file, created the symbolic link to libjavaplugin_oji.so in the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/ directory, and it appeared to be happy until I tried to run an applet -- the output from the applet was just a plain white area. It doesn't bomb off Firefox, it doesn't tell me I need to install the JRE -- nothing.

I tried the Sun "Verify Installation" page; it did nothing for a minute or so, then reloaded the page, waited another minute or so, and finally went to the page with the "Test your JVM" applet on it. The space for the Java configuration display is blank white, including the area below it where the dancing Duke logo should be. All of the HTML shows up just fine; it's just the applet display that doesn't do squat.

This is getting very, very frustrating...

You can write
in the address bar of firefox to verify that it sees the java plugin.

Sorry it took so long for me to reply; I've been out of town without a PC.

OK, did that. It reports using "Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_02-b05". And, the page I just tested it on still presents no prompt to download Java, but also no useful image -- or, indeed, image of any kind.

I realize this is probably a dumb mistake of some kind in downloading and/or configuring Java/Firefox/X11/whatever; I've had problems before that turned out to have embarrassingly simple causes and solutions both. But, so far, I don't have a clue what that mistake might be.

Did you use this page to verify your plugin installation?
Which one of the two libjavaplugin_oji.so di you use to symlink in the plugins directory? You should use the one under the subdirectory plugin/i386/ns7 and not the one under plugin/i386/ns7-gcc29.

Yes, that's the page I used. When I clicked the green "VERIFY INSTALLATION" bar, it showed the "rotating circle of circles" for about 30 seconds, refreshed and stayed for another 30 seconds, then redirected to this page -- with a blank white space between the "Test your JVM" line and the paragraph beginning "This page tests to see ...".

I linked to the libjavaplugin_oji.so under plugin/i386/ns7. (Actually, I tried both; I forget what the other one did, but it also wasn't right; I stayed with this one because it was the one cited as correct.)

Addendum: FWIW, I posted this reply (without this addendum), then relinked to the plugin/i386/ns7-gcc29 version, restarted Firefox, and tried again. It bombed off Firefox immediately, just as I remember reading that it would. I've now linked back to the plugin/i386/ns7 version, with the same results I described above.

You should check if java is enabled in your browser. Go to: Edit-->Preferences-->Content and make sure the "Enable Java" option is checked.

Yup -- JavaScript as well (in case that matters, and it almost certainly shouldn't).

BTW, lest I forget later: Thanks for taking the time to work with me on this. I really, really appreciate the help.

Perhaps you should read this and maybe downgrade your java to 1.5.

Regards

OK, did all of that on the link; "about:plugins" now shows

Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_02-b05

File name: libjavaplugin_oji.so
Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_02

(which, unless I missed a minor detail, is what I already had). My results are unchanged, i.e., running a java applet results in a blank white field where the output of the applet should be.

You may be right about downgrading to 1.5 -- but, dammit (not aimed at you, but at the java world in general), many of the applets I find insist they need 1.6. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but this looks to me like it's Sun's fault, not mine. Believe me, there's nothing all that exotic about my hardware, and I'm not aware of any installation mistakes that I've made and not corrected -- in fact, that kind of mistake is exactly what I was hoping someone could help me find.

Put

export JRE_HOME=/path/to/java

at the bottom of your /etc/profile.

similar problem, /etc/profile edit doesn't fix it
 

I added the line
export JRE_HOME=/usr/lib/java/jre1.6.0_02/bin/
but Java Applets still don't load. Followed these instructions,
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/manua...all_linux.html
Using Debian 4.0 i386

Here's the punch line ...
address bar = about: plugins

Installed plug-ins
Find more information about browser plug-ins at mozilla.org.
Help for installing plug-ins is available from plugindoc.mozdev.org.
Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_02-b05

File name: libjavaplugin_oji.so
Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_02
application/x-java-vm Java Yes
application/x-java-applet Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.1 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.2 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.3 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.1 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.2 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.3 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.3.1 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.1 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.2 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.5 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.6 Java Yes
application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.6.0_02 Java Yes
application/x-java-bean Java Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.1 Java Yes

etc.
(It also detects java-beans up to the current version.)
I'm going to try Konqueror.

Works like a charm!

I found this thread helpful
 

I recently solved a similar experience.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=576793

If by this you mean that you set the correct link to libjavaplugin_oji.so in your plugins directory, then I already did that; if not, then I'm not seeing what part of your fix I'm still missing.

Ah-HAH! This sounds like what I've been looking for. What should "/path/to/java" be -- the path to the java binary (/usr/bin/java), the path to the JRE directory, or what? Also, can you point me to a link to where JRE_HOME is documented?

Finally, a side note: Wouldn't it be more in "flavor" to put the above line in a file named something like "/etc/profile.d/jre.sh"? (Or am I being too "linux-geeky"?)

That should be the path to the jre directory. And yes, it can be placed in a separate script just as well.
If you place it in /etc/profile, you need to log out first or to do
source /etc/profile
for the changes to take effect.

By the way, did you use update-alternatives to select your new jre over the gcj one? That can make a difference too.

Run
java -version
and
(as root)
echo $JRE_HOME
If neither points to your jre6, then there is some more work to be done.

OK, I backed out JRE6 and re-installed JRE5, as bathory suggested, and that solved my "no visible output" problem, although I still can't run applets requiring JRE6. Does your $JRE_HOME fix also address the "no visible output" problem in a different way, or are we looking at two different problems here?

No, the entry in /etc/profile is most useful for running java applications (azureus , hjsplit , etc.). Have you checked update-alternatives? There's a galternatives front-end in the repositories that may make things a bit more intuitive.

Well, since reverting to 1.5 fixed my browser display problem, I'll settle for that for the time being. I looked at the update-alternatives info and will keep it in mind; before actually using it, though, I need to get to where I understand it better. I'll keep the $JRE_HOME thing in mind as well, but so far the only problem I'm having is with the browser; either I'm not using any java programs outside of the browser or they're working OK.

BTW, I also tried using the GNU Java plugin (libgcjwebplugin.so). It worked fine in some cases, but one of the ones I especially wanted to get going (a word puzzle program on one of the newspaper websites) it did a clear-and-refresh about two or three times a second; VERY annoying. I'll be exploring that alternative as well, but I won't be holding my breath.