Installing JRE Plugin for Firefox in FC4

Many web sites need Java Run Time Environment Plugin for Firefox and but it can not be installed automatically and manual installation will direct you to Sun's site. Fedora Core 4 release documents, however, advise against installing the rpm from there as it interferes with FC4 libraries:

6.1.8. Java Package Recommendations

Fedora Core 4 users are advised not to use the Java RPM provided by Sun. It contains Provides that conflict with names used in packages provided as part of Fedora Core 4. Because of this, Sun Java might disappear from an installed system during package upgrade operations.

Fedora Core 4 users should use either the RPM from jpackage.org or manually install the Sun Java tarball into /opt. Sun Java 1.5+ is recommended for stability purposes.

So, here is how I installed it:

• download the JRE 1.5.0 update 4 (not the rpm version) from Sun Site to "/opt" directory
• chmod 755 /opt/jre-1_5_0_04-linux-i586.bin (make it executable)
• ./jre-1_5_0_04-linux-i586.bin (unpack the package)
• clicked yes; it installed the package to /opt/jre1.5.0_04 directory
• cd /usr/lib/firefox/plugins
• ln -s /opt/jre1.5.0_04/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so (create a symlink)
• Restart Firefox & Test your installation.