How can I install Sun/Oracle's proprietary Java 6/7 JRE or JDK?

There is a similar question on how to install JDK 7

Install the JRE

Download the 32bit or 64bit Linux "compressed binary file" - it has a ".tar.gz" file extension and uncompress it

tar -xvf jre-7-linux-i586.tar.gz

JRE 7 package is extracted into ./jre1.7.0 directory. Now move the JRE 7 directory to /usr/lib

sudo mv ./jre1.7.0* /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0

Afterwards run the following to get a list of currently installed java alternatives

sudo update-alternatives --config java

You will get output as:

There are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

Selection Path Priority Status
————————————————————
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java 63 manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:

Remember the last number and press enter to exit this utility i.e. in this example remember the number2.

If only one alternative is shown then remember the number 0

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0/bin/java 3

This will add your new JRE 7 installation into alternatives list i.e. use the remembered number + 1 i.e. 3 in the example above. Now configure java to use the Oracle Java JRE

sudo update-alternatives --config java

You will see output similar one below - choose the number of jre1.7.0 i.e. 3:

There are 3 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

Selection Path Priority Status
————————————————————
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java 63 manual mode
3 /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0/jre/bin/java 3 manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 3
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0/jre/bin/java to provide /usr/bin/java (java) in manual mode.

N.B. if there was no previous java installation then the new JRE will be the default and you will not see the above.

Check the version of you new JRE 7 installation:

java -version

Should produce

java version “1.7.0”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0-b147)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 21.0-b17, mixed mode) 

Install the Firefox/Chrome plugin

In a terminal:

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins

Remove the IcedTea plugin, if it has been installed.

sudo apt-get remove icedtea6-plugin

Remove a former version of the Java plugin (may or may not be present)

rm ~/.mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so

Now you can install the plugin, by creating a symbolic link (you tell Firefox, where the plugin is located).

ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/

Confirm that the JRE has been successful by using the official oracle website.