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Installing the Java plugin in Firefox

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Migrated to https://ubuntuincident.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/java-plugin-for-firefox/.

Problem

You have a Linux box (e.g. Ubuntu) and you want to run an applet. It starts, but then it hangs, and you have no idea what the hack is going on.

My Case

I had Firefox 3.6.3 and I wanted to use OpenCms 7.5.1's upload feature. The uploading is done via an applet that started but when I chose the file to upload and clicked OK, nothing happened. The CPU was on 100% and using the top command I noticed that a Java process is stuck. A bit later I figured out that it must be the Java plugin…

Solution

In Firefox, verify what Java plugin you have. Go to Tools → Add-ons → Plugins. Here I had the iced tea java plugin. This is a crap, use the official Sun plugin instead.

Open Synaptic and remove this plugin. I also removed the openjdk packages.

Then install these:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

Now let's see the list of alternatives:

sudo update-java-alternatives -l

Here I got this output:

java-6-sun 63 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
java-gcj 1042 /usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj

Set the official one:

sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun

Now restart Firefox and check the Java plugin again. You should see Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_20.

Troubleshooting

If you cannot install sun-java6-jre because it's not in the repository, add this line to your software sources:

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner

Update the source list and retry.

More info at http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-install-sun-java-runtime-environment-jre-in-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lynx.html .