What I Learned Today » ubuntu

Sun Java 6 on Ubuntu 10.04 10.10 and later

Mike Christianson — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:17:04 +0000

Much to my surprise, but probably not those of the Open Source Ruling Class, Sun’s Java 6 has been removed from the Ubuntu Multiverse. Apparently the Ubuntu folks have started putting some weight behind their recommendations for switching to the “OpenJDK.” Fortunately, the official, “proprietary” Java is still available through another Ubuntu repository.

To make Sun’s Java 6 JDK available on Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 or later, add the new repository like so:

add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner" && aptitude update

Then, be sure to follow my previous instructions for installing the JDK.

Eclipse on Ubuntu without GCJ

Mike Christianson — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:02:21 +0000

Software packages from Ubuntu repositories can have some interesting and problematic dependencies. One such example is Ubuntu’s dependency on GCJ for Ant.

Ubuntu’s Eclipse package also depends on GCJ. If you wish to avoid this dependency, simply download the appropriate binary distribution from the Eclipse download site, extract to the location of your choice, and run Eclipse.

Before using Eclipse, be sure you have Sun’s JRE installed and configured as the default JRE.

Ant on Ubuntu without GCJ

Mike Christianson — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:23:33 +0000

You may be surprised to learn Ant requires GCJ when installed through Synaptic or apt on Ubuntu. GCJ is GNU’s Java compiler. When you’re using Sun’s JDK and compiler, GCJ can get in the way — at worst it creates conflicts; at best it causes confusion.

Here’s how I installed Ant on Ubuntu without GCJ. Be sure to check out (easier) alternatives suggested in the comments, below.

Download the current .tar.bz2 distribution of Ant from http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/apache/ant/binaries/.
Unpack archive using tar.

tar -xjvf apache-ant-*-bin.tar.bz2

Move the unpacked directory to /usr/local/ant.
Change that directory’s owner to root.

chown -R root:root /usr/local/ant

Add the following lines to /etc/bash.bashrc.

export ANT_HOME=/usr/local/ant
export PATH=${PATH}:${ANT_HOME}/bin

From a new shell, run ant. You should see the following:

Buildfile: build.xml does not exist!
Build failed

Yes, it’s a failure message. But it means Ant is working as expected.

Java 6 Update 10 is available

Mike Christianson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:08:16 +0000

Java 6 Update 10 (aka Java 6u10) is now available for Linux and other platforms. Sun has published release notes for this update.

I have been using 6u10 with great success since the Ubuntu 8.10 release candidate became available. Ubuntu 8.10 users can begin developing with the JDK using a couple simple commands.

aptitude install sun-java6-jdk && update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Be sure to consider installing other useful Java packages, such as sun-java6-doc, along with the JDK.

aptitude search sun-java6