java nightmare

odnlinx · #1 22nd February 2005, 03:12 AM

Java has been the most dilficult thing ive encountered since moving over from winxp. ok heres my problem in a nutshell, i installed java from Sun , i also followed all the directions on that page. after doing all that i still was unable to use java in my web browser. after that i tried installing the jre plug-in from dags repo thru yum. that went well with out a hitch, that is untill i actually tried running firefox or it just kepting dieing every time i went to a site with java. so i had to remove it and
while i was at it i tried removing the first java that i installed and it tells me that its not installed, but the thing is its still in there just that i cant get rid of it. if anyone knows a way totally remove all java off my machine so that i can try and start fresh again id greatly appreciate it. i know theres a few threads similiar to this one already but i tried all those methods and im still no where closer to being able to use java for my browser.

Edit: im using firefox

***bob*** · #2 22nd February 2005, 03:40 AM

I think the core of your problems is that you've got busted or duplicate symlinks in your plugins folder (assuming you're talking about Firefox as your browser). Go to the plugins folder and delete those links, then follow the instructions here: http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_cor...otes.html#Java and you should be okay.

Of course, if you're not using Firefox (or Mozilla), you'll need to let us know what browser is involved.

k5knt · #3 22nd February 2005, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justol'bob

I think the core of your problems is that you've got busted or duplicate symlinks in your plugins folder (assuming you're talking about Firefox as your browser). Go to the plugins folder and delete those links, then follow the instructions here: http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_cor...otes.html#Java and you should be okay.

Of course, if you're not using Firefox (or Mozilla), you'll need to let us know what browser is involved.

I followed your example and Firefox quits whenever I attempt to load a page containg java. I remember having this problem before and that it was with the symlinks, I just can't remember the fix.

Question: If one is using Firefox (as I am) why the symlink in the Mozilla folder and not the firefox folder?

Kent (k5knt)

crackers · #4 23rd February 2005, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k5knt

Question: If one is using Firefox (as I am) why the symlink in the Mozilla folder and not the firefox folder?

Because both Mozilla and Firefox, being from the same good crew of folks, made a reasonable and logical solution to standardize on a single location (/usr/lib/mozilla) for plugins. That way you only have to do it once and both can use the plugin. Same thing in each users home directory - .mozilla/plugins, in that case.

Pretty durn smart if you ask me...

k5knt · #5 23rd February 2005, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackers

Pretty durn smart if you ask me...

Yea. now if I was only 1/34 as smart

I still cannot get it to work! Every time I create a symlink Firefox crashes.

I'm really getting angry because I have had this working on a previous install a few years ago with Mozilla.

odnlinx · #6 22nd February 2005, 03:53 AM

well rite now, wat i want to do is be able to get rid of java all together, so i can try and start again fresh. i keep getting errors when i try to remove java. im at the point of thinkin of a fresh install just so that i can avoid any more problems wit java.

***bob*** · #7 22nd February 2005, 03:57 AM

Okay, again you just have to go into the plugins directory and remove the links - that will effectively remove the java ability. I'd leave the actual java alone, since it won't be affecting anything and you'll want to try to fix it later on. Might as well avoid a second download.

Oh, and by the way, I think the reason you weren't able to uninstall it with Yum or Apt is that you probably used the full name for java, including the version info at the tail end of the program. Once installed, it's referred to without those extras. If you really want to delete that version, give that a try.

(I keep editing on and on)... Just one more thought, when you go into the plugins folder to delete the links, if you can determine which one was the problematic link from Sun, try deleting JUST that one and then see if dag's version works. With only one symlink, it should.

crackers · #8 22nd February 2005, 04:45 AM

If you've installed from RPM's, you may have over-written files as well (I don't think so, but I don't use the RPMs). Just uninstall both RPMs and do as Bob said and you should be able to start from scratch.

taylor65 · #9 22nd February 2005, 05:40 PM

jave is super easy to install - just 2 clicks of a mouse when using synaptic. search for 'setup fc3 for average desktop' on this forum to see how.

***bob*** · #10 23rd February 2005, 02:56 AM

Actually, Firefox and Mozilla are configured almost identically. Yes, you'd go into the Firefox 'plugins' folder and wipe out the java symlinks, because if you have TWO symlinks Firefox can't figure out where to go. Actually, one of the symlinks is probably good - you'd just have to figure out which one. Safest course is to wipe both of them out and start fresh.

veritas · #11 23rd February 2005, 02:04 PM

Geez...I had the same problem and none of the suggestions worked. I went over to the forum for the Opera browser and posted there (after using their browser). One thing Opera has (I admit I don't actually use Opera now, so I don't remember details) was a little debugging sort of option. I posted the log created by that feature and it turned out that I was missing some libraries. Now if I can only remember which ones, I'll be real helpful!

I think they were the xorg-x11-deprecated-libs (and maybe the developer ones as well) which are available via synaptic. When I reinstalled fc3 this time I think I checked many of these sorts of developer libs as, even though I'm no developer, they seem to pop up as dependencies for things quite a bit. I mention that because when I installed java this time I did not have the issues.

I'm sorry if the libs I just mentioned aren't the right ones, but shouldn't hurt to try. I have no idea why they might be needed and I never saw this mentioned anywhere else.

casman · #12 23rd February 2005, 03:16 PM

This is my first post!! I am new to Linux, but spending allot of time learning it. I could not get the newest java (5.0) to work well so I went back to the older ver. (j2re-1_4_2_07) and it works much better. I look forward to learning and helping others take the plunge. windows=/dev/null asap

Unkemptwolf · #13 23rd February 2005, 03:22 PM

Yea, I'm having the same problem. I have the xorg depreciated libs installed, and there are NO links anywhere in my system to the plug-in, but everytime I create a single link to it, Firefox dies (mozilla does the same). I just gave up on it though. Hopefully one of them will figure it out eventually.

taylor65 · #14 23rd February 2005, 03:36 PM

c'mon guys, use synaptic to install java - it's really easy.

crackers · #15 24th February 2005, 04:14 AM

For Java 5 (I installed the tarball version, so take the path names for a "reference"), this is what mine looks like:

Code:

$ ls -l .mozilla/plugins/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 crackers users 57 Jan 16 22:29 libjavaplugin_oji.so -> /opt/jdk1.5.0_01/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

The other directory, ns7-gcc29, is for older kernel/libc versions that aren't using the newer 3.x series of gcc.