[CentOS-docs] Suggestion for "how to" section: easy way to install the JDK?

On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Milos Blazevic <milos.blazevic at sbb.rs> wrote:
> Bob Stine wrote:
>> Milos Blazivec wrote:
>>
>>     /... I am, in fact, interested in making adjustments to the Wiki /
>>     /page - but sadly not the ones you proposed Bob, since the just
>>     won't do /
>>     /the trick./
>>
>> Hmm.  I ran the executed the bin file, edited /etc/profile so that
>> PATH included the "bin" directory of the sun jdk directory, added
>> environment variable JDK_HOME,  deleted the /usr/bin/java symlink from
>> java -> /etc/alternative/java, and everything works, or at least well
>> enough for me to run the Eclipse C++ IDE, which was my goal.
>>
>> Maybe adding the jdk was unnecessary for Eclipse to work?
>>
>> Could you unpack "just won't do", or point to a discussion of the issue?
>>
>> Thanks.
>> ---
>> Bob Stine
>> bob at waltonstine.net <mailto:bob at waltonstine.net>  (703) 217-4784
>> /Rule for living: What Would Clint Eastwood Do?/
>>
> What I meant is that the instructions you suggested in your first e-mail
> are taken from:
> http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/install-linux-64-rpm-138254.html
> and are all but comprehensive, let alone appropriate for beginners.
> These installation instructions have been accompanying Sun Java as long
> as I can remember, and "strangely", no one cared to mention 'em in the
> Wiki page... don't you think that's kinda odd? I don't - 'cause they
> don't work!
>
> This second part (editing /etc/profiles, deleting symlinks and editing
> PATH...) is NOT what you mentioned in your first e-mail. However, in my
> honest opinion, this is still not the correct way to do this.
>
> What you did, is that you probably got it to work for Your particular
> purpose by resorting to an unconventional method (i.e. circumvent the
> mechanism intended for this purpose, rather than a by-the-book
> approach). By solving the problem this way, sooner or later you'll end
> up breaking something. Maintenance may prove difficult later

Agreed. Sometimes the road best taken is the one not yet travelled.

jerry