Jave plugin for firefox

[smolloy]

I've searched these forums and found these links:

Firefox + Java RE Plugin - Linux Forums
java plugin for firefox - Linux Forums

Unfortunately neither of them help. When I go to the "test your java" page at sun, I still get the "click here to download java" button.

I've downloaded and installed the self-extracting file from sun, and I've put a softlink in /usr/lib/firefox-2.0.0.5/plugins,

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      48 2007-10-22 20:48 libjavaplugin_oji.so -> /opt/jre1.6/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

I tried putting this link in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins with no success.

Also there is no mention of java in "about : plugins" on firefox.

Can anyone help? I'm ready to throw this computer through the window...

[fingal]

Yeah that's an annoying one! I had the same problem, and Firefox seem poor at providing advice about fixing it. I think the one file you've softlinked to has the correct name, but this is one of those weird and ambiguous problems which can have you ripping your hair out.

Try looking for the same / similar file in /usr/java/j2re1.5.0_10/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/

Or similar. Let us know how you get on. We will fix it together... The path above will need to be altered to fit your browser version.

[smolloy]

Thanks for the reply Fingal -- I need all the help I can get!!!

Your post gave me the idea to search my system for other java installations, and i came across one in opt/j2re1.4.2/plugin/amd64/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so. I softlinked this to four locations (overkill I know, but this was really getting on my nerves!),
/usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
/usr/lib/firefox-2.0.0.5/plugins/
/usr/lib64/firefox-2.0.0.5/plugins/

Then I went back to the Java site to test it. The good news is that it now works! But the bad news is that it says,

Oops! You don't have the recommended Java installed.
Your Java version is 1.4.2-03. Please click the button below to get the recommended Java for your computer.

This is pretty good progress for tonite, and tomorrow I'll try to figure out how to update it to the most recent version.

Thanks again for the tip.

[fingal]

Hi smolloy - I face the same problem as you whenever I do a fresh install. A further tip (which at least creates a bit of confidence that things went well) is to type about:plugins in Firefox's address bar. This lists your current plugins and makes it obvious when things went well.

Occasionally softlinking Firefox to some Java directories can cause it to crash out. I have no idea why, but I had some real issues with this a month or so ago.