I downloaded the jre-1_5_0_01-linux-i586-rpm.bin files and then run it as ./jre-1_5_0_01-linux-i586-rpm.bin. It resulted in an rpm file. and then i used rpm -iv jre-1_5_0_01-linux-i586-rpm
I assume from your install steps that you're using the package downloaded from Sun's website. This java install goes into /usr/java/ which is not in your path by default.
Everything went fine and I didn't get any error. But when I do java -version ......i don't get any output.
You won't with this rpm, as it's still running /usr/bin/java which is a placeholder type file.
I would like to know whether java is installed on my system or not.
Yes, it's installed but since it is not in your path, so unless you run it directly with /usr/java/jre-xxxxx/bin/java it won't work.
If all you need is the runtime environment, you can install this from dag's repository (dag.wieers.com/home-made/j2re/ install instructions for the repo at http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/apt/FAQ.php#B4 )
If you want to use what you already have, you will need to add an entry to your path. You can do this on a per-user basis by editing the .bashrc or .bash_profile files with an entry like
PATH=$PATH:/usr/java/jre-xxx/bin export PATH
Of the two, I'd rpm -e what you've already got installed, and ensure that the /usr/java/ dir is gone (I don't really trust sun's packaging) and install the packages from dag's repo. They're quite good, and significantly more user friendly.
-- Jim Perrin System Administrator - UIT Ft Gordon & US Army Signal Center