David Coldrick's Weblog

Using Java, NetBeans and Sun Java Studio Creator on Ubuntu
I just installed a fresh partition of Ubuntu, a very nice distro based on Debian. The version I installed was "Hoary Hedgehog", or 5.04, the current production version. Although it's not hard to find the steps that need doing to install Java, then NetBeans and Creator on this and other Debian-based systems, I thought it worthwhile to collect them in one place.

Installing Java
I installed j2se5 update 3. The easiest way is to install from the backports repository - see the discussion here. To access that repository, add to /etc/apt/sources.list the two lines - you'll notice I'm using one of the mirrors:
deb http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/ubuntu-backports/ hoary-backports main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/ubuntu-backports/ hoary-extras main universe multiverse restricted
and use synaptic or apt-get to install "sun-j2sdk1.5". For example,
sudo apt-get install sun-j2sdk1.5
However, at the time only update 2 was available in that repository, and I wanted the latest, update 3. To accomplish this installation, you do not need to have backports accessible. Instead, install java-package: for example,
sudo apt-get install java-package
Note that this will also install the dependent package fakeroot.
Now download J2SE for Linux. You want the non-rpm version, jdk-1_5_0_03-linux-i586.bin.

Almost there: cd to the directory into which you downloaded the jdk binary, and do
fakeroot make-jpkg jdk-1_5_0_03-linux-i586.bin
This will result in a bunch of messages - don't worry about them (but be sure you do not do this as root - no sudo in front of the fakeroot).
You'll have now created sun-j2sdk1.5_1.5.0+update03_i386.deb, which you can simply install: e.g.
sudo dpkg -i sun-j2sdk1.5_1.5.0+update03_i386.deb
Done! Try a "java -version" at the command line and you should see
java version "1.5.0_03"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_03-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_03-b07, mixed mode, sharing)

Now let's tackle

Installing NetBeans
Well, this will be a short section: download netbeans-4_1-linux.bin, or even better, the netbeans/ app server 8.1 combo, sjsas_pe-8_1_01_2005Q1-nb-4_1-linux.bin: while you're at it, you might as well download the mobility pack installer netbeans_mobility-4_1-linux.bin from the same place.
Next run the .bin: it'll notice your java installation, and the installation should complete with no problems. I installed this from my account - no sudo - and the result is a new "netbeans4.1" directory in your home folder. Notice that it even puts a launcher on your desktop. If you downloaded the mobility pack, run it as well: it should detect where netbeans was installed and set you up for doing neat mobile stuff.

One of the first things you might do is go to the update centre from within NetBeans (Tools\Update Center) and add some stuff: I find the "error stripe" module of value.

Last step,

Installing Java Studio Creator
Note that this is a 30-day eval copy, unless you're already got a licence key. You don't need to have installed NetBeans to use this, it's self-contained, including an application server. Download the kit from here. You'll need to register and/or login, then you can download creator-2004q2-linux-ml.bin.
One of the gotchas I discovered in this exercise - which should soon be fixed, 'cause I reported it - is that the inbuilt app server 8.1 that gets installed with the creator kit has a problem with a couple of the C/C++ libraries that you probably currently have installed. So you need to download and install a couple of libraries from the Debian repositories. Best way is simply to do the following two commands:
wget http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gcc/libstdc++2.10_2.95.2-14_i386.deb
wget http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/pool/main/g/gcc-2.95/libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2_2.95.4-11woody1_i386.deb
Install these, with e.g.:
dpkg -i libstdc*
and your installation of Creator - by running creator-2004q2-linux-ml.bin - should proceed smoothly. You can run this as root with a sudo, or from your own account. In the latter case it gets installed - by default - in your home folder
The Creator install does not provide a launcher on your desktop, but it's pretty easy for you to create one yourself: the 48x48 icons you'll want are in the /bin/icons subdirectory of your installation. By the way, as soon as you fire up Creator via the shell procedure provided in the /bin directory, go to the \Tools\Update Center and install everything you find: lots of bug fixes and new functionality in there.

So that's it - you're now ready to do some heavy-duty Java development on your Ubuntu system.