Java And Java Plugin For Mozilla In Linux

[shn]

This will explain the installation of Mozilla 1.6, Java 1.4.2-03, and Java plugin. Java will be installed in your home directory as well as the latest version of Mozilla 1.6. This has been tested on Mandrake 9.2 and for the most part will work on any of the latest distributions provided you have gcc which you probably do.-.

First you need to download the lastest version of Mozilla 1.6 from http://Mozilla.org

NOTE IF YOU WISH TO USE FIREBIRD FOR THIS INSTALLATION INSTEAD OF MOZILLA 1.6 YOU MAY. HOWEVER I CAN NOT GAURANTEE IT WILL WORK WITHOUT CRASHING FROM TIME TO TIME. OR IT MAY NOT CRASH AT ALL. USE MOZILLA IF YOU WANT TO BE SAFE.

Then download Sun Java j2re1.4.2 from http://Java.com -----> You will need the "self extracting binary package" NOT THE RPM.
The reason for that is we want this installation to go smoothly without having to su as root and/or effect any system wide configuration files.



Once you have downloaded the files we will assume that you have saved them somewhere in your home directory (/home/yourusername)

cd or change into the directory that you saved the files above to and decompress the Mozilla archive you downloaded with the following command from a terminal:

tar zxvf mozilla-i686-pc-linux-gnu-1.6-installer.tar.gz

Now you should have a directory called "mozilla-installer" cd or change into the mozilla-installer directory and run the following command from a terminal:

./mozilla-installer



The installer will launch and you should proceed with installing Mozilla after accepting the liscence agreement. I generally just choose the "navigator" only as adding more can give you a bloated Mozilla. It will have a default install directory set for you of /usr/local/mozilla DO NOT use that directory (you wont have permission to anyway), you will need to browse to a location in your home directory as you can see I have done below and install it there. (/home/yourusername/mozilla)

Once Mozilla is installed you can create a shortcut on your desktop generally by right clicking in either KDE or Gnome. Nevertheless the command to lanch your newly installed version of mozilla will be:

/home/yourusername/mozilla/./mozilla



That takes care of mozilla..........now you will need to install Java j2re in your home directory.

cd or change to the directory you downloaded the binary to. Running the extraction is as simple as putting ./ in front of the file name from the terminal. However you will need to chmod the file name to make it executable or you will get a "permission denied" error. Do the following from a terminal:

chmod 777 j2re-1_4_2_03-linux-i586.bin

Then type:

./j2re-1_4_2_03-linux-i586.bin



If your file name is different then you need to change it accordingly. NOTE it is not a good idea to chmod "777" all your files when you only need to make them executable for you. For more on a guide to file permissions I suggest you do some research yourself since I am not covering that.

You will need to accept the java liscence or whatvever and keep hitting return until you scroll to the end of it and then when it ask you just type in yes. It will put all the files in a folder called "j2re1.4.2_03" or whatever the file version of your java binary was that you downloaded. For instance......... /home/yourusername/j2re1.4.2_03

Now you will need to create a symbolic link to your Mozilla plugins directory. There are several versions of the java plugin included with the what you now have. It all depends on your version of GCC. To see what version of gcc you have type in the following from a terminal:

gcc -v

The output shoould yeild something similar like below:

[ash@london downloads]$ gcc -v
Reading specs from /usr//bin/../lib/gcc-lib/i586-mandrake-linux-gnu/3.3.1/specs
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib --with-slibdir=/lib --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --disable-checking --enable-long-long --enable-__cxa_atexit --enable-languages=c,c++,ada,f77,objc,java,pascal --host=i586-mandrake-linux-gnu --with-system-zlib
Thread model: posix
gcc version 3.3.1 (Mandrake Linux 9.2 3.3.1-2mdk)
[ash@london downloads]$

To find out which plugin to use look at your version number of gcc. If your version of gcc is 3.2 or above. You will need this java plugin /j2re1.4.2_03/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32

If your version of gcc is below 3.2 you will need this plugin ------->/j2re1.4.2_03/plugin/i386/ns610

And lastly if you really have old libraries, or an older system you will need this ------ ----->/j2re1.4.2_03/plugin/i386/ns4

Note that thoose are the folders where each plugin resides the plugin will be named libjavaplugin_oji.so

I have never used the last plugin above and you are on your own if it does not work. And I would also upgrade to a newer version of gcc as well if I were you. For most people the first one will work if your using a modern distro of linux with newer version of gcc.

YOU CAN NOT COPY THE JAVA PLUGIN TO YOUR MOZILLA PLUGINS DIRECTORY! YOU MUST CREATE A SYMBOLIC LINK!

To create a symbolic link you will need to cd or change into your mozilla plugins directory from a terminal. For example:

cd /home/yourusername/mozilla/plugins

After you are in the directory issue the following command to the terminal:

ln -s /home/yourusername/j2re1.4.2_03/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so

If you do not get any output from that then you will know that you have at least created the symbolic link. Now lets see if your java will work. Point you Mozilla 1.6 browser to http://free-ed.net There is an applet that will load and you will see the words "enter here" Also in your Mozilla status bar it will say applet loaded. You may test your java anywhere if that site is down.

If your java does not work then try a plugin from one of the different folders listed above. The first two will work for sure. But if you follow the instructions above pertaining to your version of gcc you will get it on the first shot.



To enable java support for the KDE Konqueror web browser click on Settings in the menu bar and go to Java and Java script options. Make sure you mark the checkbox to "enable java globally" and then give konqueror the exact location of your java "executable" NOT THE PLUGIN. The exact path will be:

/home/yourusername/j2re1.4.2_03/bin/java



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This article was put together by shn, Friday February 06, 2004

You may use and distribute this as you wish. However you may not alter, revise, or change this without my explicit consent.

Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Mozilla is a registered trademark of The Mozilla Organization

*USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I NOR ANYONE AFFILIATED WITH ME IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY UNDESIRED RESULTS.*

[LSA]

good job shn

[h1]

Great job shn. But don't this and the VMWare guide belong in Tutorials? Otherwise we'll have to pull a "bump thread" like with the DWk's RAR guide.

[shn]

There is really no need to bump any of the threads I have created. As long as they reside here.

Besides, the tutorials are in Internetworld and that has nothing to do with any of the threads I have posted. Im suprised you put your Red Hat Linux tutorial there. That sounds like software to me. Good software

[h1]

I know it sounds stupid, but what's the Tutorials forum there for then?

Besides, there will be no threads posted there anyway as it's a tuturial-only forum, so it should be easier for people to find.

[shn]

I think it sounds more sensible to have the tutorials section here in softwareworld. Whatever the case it does not look right in Internet world.