Installing the JRE on Ubuntu Systems

Note

 

The Oracle Java Runtime Environment (SRE) has been removed from the official software repositories of Ubuntu and only provides a binary (.bin) version. You can get the JRE from the Java SE Downloads.

1. Download the appropriate version of the JRE, such as jre-6u31-linux-i586.bin, for your system and unpack it directly under /opt/java/<32 or 64>.

2. Make the file executable:

   sudo chmod 755 /opt/java/32/jre-6u31-linux-i586.bin
   

3. Go to the new folder:

   cd /opt/java
   

4. Execute the file:

   sudo ./jre-6u31-linux-i586.bin
   

5. Accept the license terms to continue installing the JRE.

6. Tell the system that there’s a new Java version available:

   sudo update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/opt/java/32/jre1.6.0_31/bin/java" 1
   

Note

 

If updating from a previous version that was removed manually, execute the above command twice, because you’ll get an error message the first time.

1. Set the new JRE as the default:

   sudo update-alternatives --set java /opt/java/32/jre1.6.0_31/bin/java
   

2. Make sure your system is now using the correct JRE:

   $ sudo java -version
   
   java version "1.6.0_31"
   Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_31-b04)
   Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.1-b04, mixed mode)