> 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