Installing Oracle JDK on Ububtu 12.04 and openSuse 12.2

Ubuntu and openSuse both come with openJDK installed, however at times one needs Oracle JDK to be present in the system. Here are the steps needed to install it on both OS.

1. Download Oracle JDK  fron oracle site Download Oracle JDK. These instrction are for 

Java SE 6 Update 35.

2. Copy it to "/usr/lib/jvm" directory

# cp jdk-6u35-linux-i586.bin /usr/lib/jvm

3. Make it executable and run it

 # chmod +x jdk-6u35-linux-i586.bin

# ./jdk-6u35-linux-i586.bin

It shall unzip itself and create directories.

4. Install it in alternatives system

# sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/bin/java 1 

 # sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/bin/javac 1

 # sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javaws javaws /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/bin/javaws 1

 Here is what update-alternatives' man page says about installing

update-alternatives  --install <link> <name> <path> <priority>

5. Now select it as default by running these commands and select the JDK

# sudo update-alternatives --config java

# sudo update-alternatives --config javac

# sudo update-alternatives --config javaws 

6. Create plugin link

# sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins

7. Now test it with version

# java  -version

java version "1.6.0_35"

Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_35-b10)

Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 20.10-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

For openSuse all above is same except these enviornment variables needs to be put in "/etc/profile"

export JAVA_HOME=//usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/
export JAVA_BINDIR=//usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/bin/
export JAVA_ROOT=//usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/
export JDK_HOME=//usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/
export JRE_HOME=//usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_35/

Some software like jEdit use  these variables to detect Java.

Though these instructions are for Ubuntu and openSuse, they might work for other distros.

Hope this helps as I got from other sources.

Thanks for reading.