"Could not create virtual machine" after Java install

[StefanJ]

Running Core 5.

The base install put Java 1.4.2 on there. Too primeval for my needs.

I used this FAQ to install Java JDK 1.5.0, update 9:

http://www.fedorafaq.org/fc5/#java

This took me through installing the Sun self-extracting package, and installing the Fedora Compatibility Package for Java.

Java is apparently there:

[root@FedoraDell ~]# which java
/usr/bin/java
[root@FedoraDell ~]# ls -l /usr/bin/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Mar 7 22:17 /usr/bin/java -> /etc/alternatives/java
[root@FedoraDell ~]# ls -l /etc/alternatives/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 35 May 28 17:59 /etc/alternatives/java -> /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/bin/java
[joe@FedoraDell etc]$ ls -l /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/bin/java
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 64248 Oct 12 2006 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/bin/java

It's going through two links, but it's there!

However, when I try to see if I have the right version installed:

[root@FedoraDell ~]# java --version
Unrecognized option: --version
Could not create the Java virtual machine.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Stefan

I don't particularly like those instructions, especially making an RPM from the BIN file when you can easily install straight from the BIN file. Also the latest version of Java is: jre-6u1-linux-i586.bin

I always follow these notes and they work every time:

http://www.geocities.jp/rondonko/fc6notes.html#Java

Wayne

[daihard]

I am with Wayne on this. I like FedoraFAQ a lot, but not that part about installing JDK/JRE.

I followed the instructions outlined in post #6 on the following link:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=59067

The instructions are valid for FC5 and FC6 as well as FC4, for which they were apparently written.

[StefanJ]

Thanks, I'll uninstall the old stuff and try one of those tonight.

Is there a way to update the FAQ? If only to put in alternative suggestions?

[daihard]

Originally Posted by StefanJ

Thanks, I'll uninstall the old stuff and try one of those tonight.

Is there a way to update the FAQ? If only to put in alternative suggestions?

I suppose we can send the suggestion to whoever manages the site.

[StefanJ]

OK, that last set seems to have done the trick. I also installed 1.6.

However . . . I might actually have had 1.5.0-11 working yesterday without knowing it.

I was checking that the newly installed version was working by entering:

java --version

That turns out not to be a valid option! I'm used to full-word options having a double hyphen in front. I entered that again after I installed 1.6 and used the alternatives gizmo to set the link to the new binary. Got the "could not create virtual machine" error.

When I entered:

java -version

It returned the 1.6.0 version string! No virtual machine error.

In any case, the other threads pointed too provided instructions for setting environment variables.

Ultimate test: I was able to run the Java application that I installed Java for in the first place.

Thanks all!