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

Sat Oct 9 01:33:44 UTC 2010
Milos Blazevic <milos.blazevic at sbb.rs>

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?/
>
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>   
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 comprehenssive, 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 oppinion, 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. Maintainance may prove difficult later

For me, by-the-book is using "alternatives" utility for this purpose - 
intended by the makers way to handle this kind of issues. (switching 
between different mail servers, etc.)

Better idea is to adjust symlink to point to the desired binary, rather 
than editing PATH variable, deleting the symlink,...

Eclipse has got nothing to do with all this...

-- 
***Milos Blazevic*
Cert. No: 805010564450148
Email: milos.blazevic at sbb.rs <mailto:milos.blazevic at sbb.rs>
Tel: 064/301 45 78