Java6 plugginess

Installing a java plugin for Firefox has eluded me for a while. I had a look @ the usual posts but they seemed quite cumbersome. Imagine my surprise when I installed the firefox java plugin in a few easy steps!

1. Install Java6 SE or JRE from here.
2. Find your firefox installation. Mine was in /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.12

If you want to find out where your installation is, type:

grep 'LIBDIR' /usr/bin/firefox

You should see something like:

LIBDIR=/usr/lib/firefox-3.0.12

The LIBDIR variable has the location of the firefox installation.

3. Find the location of libnpjp2.so in your java installation.

Mine was in jdk_install_dir/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

4. Change to the /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.12/plugins directory.

cd /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.12/plugins

5. Create a symlink to your libnpjp2.so file.

ln -s jdk_install_dir/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so libnpjp2.so

Your plugins directory will now have a symlink named libnpjp2.so

6. Open firefox and type:

about:plugins

You should see something like the following:

Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_14

 File name: libnpjp2.so
 The next generation Java plug-in for Mozilla browsers.

You can further test your java installation at the following sites:

Java Tester
Java Verification
Dancing Duke

That's it! :)

References: 1 and 2.