Java Virtual Machine

[Nigel Wade]

Guy Rouillier wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:38:51 -0800 Rick Stevens
> <rstevens at vitalstream.com> wrote:
> 
>> Paths are set up in several places.  The global paths (those that are 
>> set up by default) are in /etc/profile.  In there, you'll see a line 
>> like: pathmunge /usr/X11R6/bin after
>> 
>> Add a line just after it:
>> 
>> pathmung /usr/java/j2sdk1.4.2_03 after
>> 
>> and everyone will have it tacked onto their paths as the last item.
> 
> 
> One observation about getting Java into your path.  The way I've
> typically seen Java installed on Unix systems is to put a particular
> version directly under usr, then create a symlink "java" to it.  The RPM
> installer will place the version *under* /usr/java, so from within /usr
> you can do this:
> 
> mv java/j2sdk1.4.2_03 . rmdir java ln -s java/j2sdk1.4.2_03 java
> 
> Then just put /usr/java/bin in your path.  The reason for doing this is
> so that all your Java code is now version independent; you can install a
> new version, change the symlink, and carry on.
> 

That's pretty much what I do.

It also allows you to have multiple versions of the JVM, SDK etc. installed 
simultaneously to test code against each, and only have one as the default.

Very useful for testing code against the 1.5 beta...

-- 
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
             University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail :    nmw at ion.le.ac.uk
Phone :     +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555