Just a quick set of notes I accumulated earlier when I installed the new JRE on a couple of 64-bit (AMD64) Intrepid machines.

  1. Download the JRE or the JDK for 6u12 from Sun Microsystem’s Java download page. Select the bin option, NOT the RPM.
  2. Save the file to your home directory.
  3. When the download is complete, open a terminal and enter:
    • chmod +x jre-6u12-linux-x64.bin
    • mv jre-6u12-linux-x64.bin /opt
    • cd /opt
    • ./jre-6u12-linux-x64.bin
  4. Type “q” and then type “yes” followed by to accept the license agreement, and the software will now extract in /opt/jre1.6.0_12
  5. Tell Ubuntu how to use it:
    • sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jre1.6.0_12/bin/java 1
    • sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/xulrunner/plugins/javaplugin.so xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so /opt/jre1.6.0_12/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 1
    • If you downloaded the JDK, set up links for javac this way, too.
  6. Tell your Ubuntu system to use the new JRE:
    • sudo update-alternatives --set java /opt/jre1.6.0_12/bin/java
    • sudo update-alternatives --set xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so /opt/jre1.6.0_12/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
  7. Restart Firefox, and verify that it works:
    • Type “about:plugins” in the address bar, and you should see a bunch of stuff for Java there.
    • Go to the Java Version Tester. It should tell you that you are running Java Version 1.6.0_12 from Sun Microsystems Inc.

There you have it—a functioning Sun JVM in your 64-bit Web browser. It’s about damn time, Sun!