Installing IBM Java 1.6 on a 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04 instance

I'm still setting up my new Lenovo Thinkpad W500 as my main developer/demonstration environment and, as such, needed to install a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in order to run applets etc. such as the Domino WebAdmin application.

I'm running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 ( aka Lucid Lynx ), with a 64-bit kernel; uname -a reports: -

Linux dmhw500 2.6.32-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 28 13:28:05 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Having downloaded the IBM JRE ( ibm-java-jre-6.0-8.0-linux-x86_64.tgz ), it was a simple matter of extracting it into, in my case, /opt/IBM as follows: -

cd /opt
mkdir IBM
cd IBM
tar xvzf ~/Downloads/ibm-java-jre-6.0-8.0-linux-x86_64.tgz

Having done this, I then needed to configure Firefox 3.6.3 to use this JRE; that was a more tricky operation.

In the end, it was a relatively simple matter of creating symbolic links for TWO of the JRE's plugin files into the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins directory: -

cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
ln -s /opt/IBM/ibm-java-x86_64-60/jre/lib/amd64/libjavaplugin_jni.so .
ln -s /opt/IBM/ibm-java-x86_64-60/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so .

Having done this, the command ls -al /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins returns: -

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     62 2010-06-08 12:28 libjavaplugin_jni.so -> /opt/IBM/ibm-java-x86_64-60/jre/lib/amd64/libjavaplugin_jni.so
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     53 2010-06-08 12:33 libnpjp2.so -> /opt/IBM/ibm-java-x86_64-60/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

Having done this, the Firefox special URL about:plugins lists the Java(TM) Plugin 1.6.0 along with the usual suspects, and the command: -

cat /home/hayd/.mozilla/firefox/63a743op.default/pluginreg.dat

returns: -

Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0:$
34
0:application/x-java-vm:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
1:application/x-java-applet:Java&#153 Plug-in Applet::$
2:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
3:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
4:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
5:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.3:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
6:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
7:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
8:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
9:application/x-java-applet;version=1.3:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
10:application/x-java-applet;version=1.3.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
11:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
12:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
13:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
14:application/x-java-applet;version=1.5:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
15:application/x-java-applet;version=1.6:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
16:application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.6:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
17:application/x-java-bean:Java&#153 Plug-in JavaBeans::$
18:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
19:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
20:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
21:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.3:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
22:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
23:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
24:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
25:application/x-java-bean;version=1.3:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
26:application/x-java-bean;version=1.3.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
27:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
28:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.1:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
29:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.2:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
30:application/x-java-bean;version=1.5:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
31:application/x-java-bean;version=1.6:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
32:application/x-java-bean;jpi-version=1.6:Java&#153 Plug-in::$
33:application/x-java-vm-npruntime:::$

As they say, the job's a good un'