TUTORIAL: Blackdown Java

Move the extracted directory j2re1.4.2 to /usr/local and
add /usr/local/j2re1.4.2/bin for PATH environment in your local bash profile

[tchung@localhost download]$ ll
total 13028
drwxr-x---    8 tchung   tchung       4096 Jan 23 00:27 j2re1.4.2
-rwxrwxr-x    1 tchung   tchung   13315794 Jan 23 00:16 j2re-1.4.2-rc1-linux-i586-gcc3.2.bin
[tchung@localhost download]$ sudo mv j2re1.4.2 /usr/local
Password:
[tchung@localhost download]$ cd ~
[tchung@localhost tchung]$ vi .bash_profile

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:/usr/local/j2re1.4.2/bin


TIP by Joseph Harnish

Move the extracted directory j2re1.4.2 to /usr/local.  
Create a symbolic link named java to j2re1.4.2 with the following command:

ln -s j2re1.4.2 java

Edit /etc/profile, before PATH=..... put this:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java
PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin

Then on the next step I point to /usr/local/java/plugin/i386/mozilla/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

This way when you upgrade java it still works.