Linux System Requirements

See supported System Configurations for information about supported platforms, operating systems, desktop managers, and browsers.

1. Download
2. Install
3. Enable and Configure

Download

1. Go to http://java.com and click on the Download button
2. There are two types of installation packages.
   
   • Java on Linux Platforms
     This installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 32-bit Linux, using an archive binary file (.tar.gz) that can be installed by anyone (not only the root users), in any location that you can write to. However, only the root user can install Java into the system location.
     
   • Java on RPM-based Linux Platforms
     This installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 32-bit RPM-based Linux platforms, such as Red Hat and SuSE, using an RPM binary file (.rpm) in the system location. You must be root to perform this installation.
   
   Download the package that best suits your needs. You can download the file to any of the directories on your system.
3. Before the file can be downloaded, you must accept the license agreement.
4. Download and check the download file size to ensure that you have downloaded the full, uncorrupted software bundle. Before you download the file, notice its byte size provided on the download page on the web site. Once the download has completed, compare that file size to the size of the downloaded file to make sure they are equal.

Install

• Java for Linux Platforms
• Java for RPM based Linux Platforms

Note about root access: To install Java in a system-wide location such as /usr/local, you must login as the root user to gain the necessary permissions. If you do not have root access, install the Java in your home directory or a sub directory for which you have write permissions

Java for Linux Platforms

1. Change to the directory in which you want to install. Type:
   cd directory_path_name
   For example, to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, Type:
   cd /usr/java/
   
   
2. Move the .tar.gz archive binary to the current directory.
3. Unpack the tarball and install Java
   tar zxvf jre-8u73-linux-i586.tar.gz
   
   The Java files are installed in a directory called jre1.8.0_73 in the current directory.
   In this example, it is installed in the /usr/java/jre1.8.0_73 directory.
4. Delete the .tar.gz file if you want to save disk space.

Java for RPM based Linux Platforms

1. Become root by running su and entering the super-user password.
2. Uninstall any earlier installations of the Java packages.
   rpm -e package_name
3. Change to the directory in which you want to install. Type:
   cd directory_path_name
   For example, to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, Type:
   cd /usr/java
   
   
4. Install the package.
   rpm -ivh jre-8u73-linux-i586.rpm
   
   To upgrade a package,
   rpm -Uvh jre-8u73-linux-i586.rpm
   
   
5. Exit the root shell. No need to reboot.
6. Delete the .rpm file if you want to save disk space.

The installation is now complete. Go to the Enable and Configure section.

Enable and Configure

Firefox

When you install the Java platform, the Java plugin file is included as part of that install. If you want to use Java within Firefox, you need to manually create a symbolic link from the plugin file in the release to one of the locations that Firefox expects. For Firefox version 21 and higher, you must create the symbolic link in your home directory, ~/.mozilla/plugins. Beginning with Firefox version 21, creating the symbolic link in the plugins subdirectory of the Firefox application's directory is not supported.

1. Exit Firefox browser if it is already running.
2. Uninstall any previous installations of Java Plugin.
   Only one Java Plugin can be used at a time. When you want to use a different plugin, or version of a plugin, remove the symbolic links to any other versions and create a fresh symbolic link to the new one.
   
   Remove the symbolic links (or move them to another directory) to javaplugin-oji.so and libnpjp2.so from the Firefox plugins directory.
   
   
3. Create a symbolic link to the Java Plugin in the Firefox plugins directory
   • Go to the Firefox plugins directory
     cd ~/.mozilla/plugins
     Create the plugins directory if it does not exist.
   • Create the symbolic link
     32-bit plugin:
     ln -s Java installation directory/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so .
     64-bit plugin:
     ln -s Java installation directory/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so .
   
   Example
   • If the Java is installed at this directory:
     /usr/java/Java installation directory
   • Then type in the terminal window to go to the browser plug-in directory:
     cd ~/.mozilla/plugins/
   • Enter the following command to create a symbolic link to the Java Plug-in for Firefox:
     ln -s /usr/java/Java installation directory/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so .
   
   
4. Start the Firefox browser, or restart it if it is already up.
   
   In Firefox, type about:plugins in the Location bar to confirm that the Java Plugin is loaded. You can also click the Tools menu to confirm that Java Console is there.

To test that Java is installed and working properly on your computer, run this test applet.