Linux: Installing Sun Java and Birt/Eclipse All-In-One Cures my Ubuntu Woes

I had a reeking suspicion that all of my recent issues getting Eclipse, Azureus, and other Java based programs working under Ubuntu wasn't due to Ubuntu itself, but rather the GNU Java interpreter. While it is a good interpreter, and the folks who built it worked hard on it, it just doesn't reach that 100 percent compatibility that I need for my applications. Fortunately, I came across this (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-183068.html) article which pointed me in the right direction to get Sun Java working under Ubuntu.

First, I started Synaptic from the System/Administration menu. Once I started Synaptic, I went to Settings/Repositories. Select all available repositories. Then, under each of the binary repository sites, select both Universe and Multi verse. When you get back to the Synaptic main screen, hit the reload button to reload the packages from the updated sites. Once updated, you should see Sun Java under the package lists. I selected all the packages for Sun Java (JDK/JRE/DOCS/SOURCE) and hit apply. A pop-up window will ask you to accept the terms of the license. At some point during the installation, I got an error message about the DOC package. I just typed in “No” and hit return. I will correct that later. Once complete, i closed down Synaptic, and opened a terminal window. From the command prompt I typed in the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

A small menu popped up asking which Java package I wanted to run. i select option 3, which for me was Suns Java. Once this completed, I went back and ran Eclipse. Sure enough, without a hitch the BIRT report designer loaded for me, bypassing my previous error of not being able to load the report designer perspective. This was a relief since I plan to stick with Ubuntu, and BIRT was my main application of interest. Thanks to the BIRT groups All-in-One release of Eclipse, I would have given up on using Eclipse and BIRT under Ubuntu. I also did a test run of Azureus, which previously wouldn't even get to the main menu. It works like a charm now.

To correct the issue with the DOCS package, I went to the following URL:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html

I downloaded the Java 5.0 DOCS package and put under the /tmp folder. I changed the owner/group of the JDK-1_5_0.zip file to root/root using the chown and chgrp commands respectivly. Then I did an upgrade with apt-get, and the installation of the docs package went without any issues. Now I am all set with Sun Java.