Java Platform, Standard Edition Installation Guide
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7 JRE Installation for Linux Platforms

This page describes JRE for Linux system requirements and gives installation instructions for several JRE-Linux combinations.

This page contains these topics:

See "JDK 8 and JRE 8 Installation Start Here" for general information about installing JDK 8 and JRE 8.

System Requirements

See Oracle JDK 8 and JRE 8 Certified System Configurations for information about supported platforms, operating systems, and browsers.

On a 64-bit system, you can download either the 64-bit or the 32-bit version of the Java platform. However, if you are using a 32-bit browser and you want to use the plugin, then you need to install the 32-bit version of the Java platform. To determine which version of Firefox you are running, launch the application, and select the menu item Help -> About Mozilla Firefox. At the bottom of the window is a version string line that contains either "Linux i686" (32-bit) or "Linux x86_64" (64-bit). To setup the Java plugin, see "Manual Installation and Registration of Java Plugin for Linux".

JRE 8 Installation Instructions

Installation Instruction Notation and Files

For instructions containing the notation version, substitute the appropriate JRE update version number. For example, if you are installing update JRE 8 update release 381, the following string representing the name of the bundle:

jre-8uversion-linux-i586.tar.gz

becomes:

jre-8u381-linux-i586.tar.gz

The following table lists the options and instructions for downloading the JRE 8 release for a Linux platform.

Download File and Instructions Architecture Who Can Install
jre-8uversion-linux-x64.tar.gz
"Installation of the 64-bit JRE on Linux Platforms"		 64-bit anyone
jre-8uversion-linux-i586.tar.gz
"Installation of the 32-bit JRE on Linux Platforms"		 32-bit anyone
jre-8uversion-linux-x64.rpm
"Installation of the 64-bit JRE on RPM-based Linux Platforms"		 64-bit RPM-based Linux root
jre-8uversion-linux-i586.rpm
"Installation of the 32-bit JRE on RPM-based Linux Platforms"		 32-bit RPM-based Linux root

Installation of the 64-bit JRE on Linux Platforms

This procedure installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 64-bit Linux, using an archive binary file (.tar.gz).

These instructions use the following file:

jre-8uversion-linux-x64.tar.gz

  1. Download the file.

    Before the file can be downloaded, you must accept the license agreement. The archive binary can be installed by anyone (not only root users), in any location that you can write to. However, only the root user can install the JRE into the system location.

  2. Change directory to the location where you would like the JRE to be installed, then move the .tar.gz archive binary to the current directory.

  3. Unpack the tarball and install the JRE.

    % tar zxvf jre-8uversion-linux-x64.tar.gz

    The JRE is installed in a directory named jre1.8.0_version in the current directory.

  4. Delete the .tar.gz file if you want to save disk space.

Installation of the 64-bit JRE on RPM-based Linux Platforms

This procedure installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 64-bit RPM-based Linux platforms, such as Red Hat and SuSE, using an RPM binary file (.rpm) in the system location. You must be root to perform this installation.

These instructions use the following file:

jre-8uversion-linux-x64.rpm

  1. Download the file.

    Before the file can be downloaded, you must accept the license agreement.

  2. Become root by running su and entering the super-user password.

  3. Uninstall any earlier installations of the JRE packages.

    # rpm -e package_name

  4. Install the package.

    # rpm -ivh jre-8uversion-linux-x64.rpm

    To upgrade a package:

    # rpm -Uvh jre-8uversion-linux-x64.rpm

    Note: JRE 8 can coexist with other feature releases of the JRE. For each feature release, a separate directory is created, the default directory being /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.8-oracle-x64 for 64-bit JREs.

  5. Delete the .rpm file if you want to save disk space.

  6. Exit the root shell.

    There is no need to reboot.

Installing the 64-Bit JRE on Oracle Linux Platforms

There is one OL-specific 64-bit JRE RPM package, jre-1.8-headful, which provides full JRE functionality for running any Java application. To install it, use one of the following commands:

Installation of the 32-bit JRE on Linux Platforms

This procedure installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 32-bit Linux, using an archive binary file (.tar.gz).

These instructions use the following file:

jre-8uversion-linux-i586.tar.gz

  1. Download the file.

    Before the file can be downloaded, you must accept the license agreement. The archive binary can be installed by anyone (not only root users), in any location that you can write to. However, only the root user can install the JRE into the system location.

  2. Change directory to the location where you would like the JRE to be installed, then move the .tar.gz archive binary to the current directory.

  3. Unpack the tarball and install the JRE.

    % tar zxvf jre-8uversion-linux-i586.tar.gz

    The JRE files are installed in a directory named jre-1.8-oracle-x86 in the current directory.

  4. Delete the .tar.gz file if you want to save disk space.

Installation of the 32-bit JRE on RPM-based Linux Platforms

This procedure installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for 32-bit RPM-based Linux platforms, such as Red Hat and SuSE, using an RPM binary file (.rpm) in the system location. You must be root to perform this installation.

These instructions use the following file:

jre-8uversion-linux-i586.rpm

  1. Download the file.

    Before the file can be downloaded, you must accept the license agreement.

  2. Become root by running su and entering the super-user password.

  3. Uninstall any earlier installations of the JRE packages.

    # rpm -e package_name

  4. Install the package.

    # rpm -ivh jre-8uversion-linux-i586.rpm

    To upgrade a package:

    # rpm -Uvh jre-8uversion-linux-i586.rpm

    Note: JRE 8 can coexist with other feature releases of the JRE. For each feature release, a separate directory is created, the default directory being /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.8-oracle-x86 for 32-bit JREs.

  5. Exit the root shell.

    There is no need to reboot.

  6. Delete the .rpm file if you want to save disk space.

Installation of Public Key on RPM-based Linux Platforms

The JRE RPMs are signed with OL keys. Installation of these RPMs on Linux distributions other than OL gives a warning message indicating that security validation of the package fails. This indicates that the public key used to sign this RPM needs to be installed in the system. The following is a sample warning message:

jre-8u281-ea-bin-b03-linux-amd64-20_oct_2020.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID ec551f03: NOKEY

The following are the public key installation steps:

  1. Download the key file from https://yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-ol8 using the following command:

    wget https://yum.oracle.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-ol8

  2. Install the key using the following command:

    sudo rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle-ol8

Note: Public key installation needs to be done only once. The key installation is persistent across reboots.

General Notes About Installing the JRE on Linux Platforms from Archive Files

Root Access

Installing the software from archive files automatically creates a directory named jre1.8.0_version. Note that if you choose to install the Java SE Runtime Environment into a system-wide location such as /usr/jre, you must first become root to gain the necessary permissions. If you do not have root access, simply install the Java SE Runtime Environment into your home directory, or a subdirectory that you have permission to write to.

Overwriting Files

If you install the software in a directory that contains a subdirectory named jre1.8.0_version, the new software overwrites files of the same name in that jre1.8.0_version directory. Rename the old directory if it contains files you want to keep.

System Preferences

By default, the installation script configures the system such that the backing store for system preferences is created inside the JRE's installation directory. If the JRE is installed on a network-mounted drive, it and the system preferences can be exported for sharing with Java runtime environments on other machines.

See Core Java Preferences API for more information about preferences in the Java platform.

General Notes About Installing the JRE on Linux Platforms from RPM Packages

You can install from RPM packages only one version of the JRE of the same feature release. If you try to install the newer version of the same feature release while the older version exists, the installer uninstalls the older version and installs the new version. For example, you can't install JRE 8u371 and JRE 8u381 simultaneously. If you attempt to install JRE 8u381 after JRE 8u371 is installed, the installer uninstalls JRE 8u371 and installs JRE 8u381.

All versions of JRE of the same feature release are installed in /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.8-oracle-arch, where arch is either x64 (64-bit) or x86 (32-bit), depending on the architecture of your system. Additionally, a symbolic link named /usr/java/jre1.8.0-arch pointing to the installation directory is created for backward compatibility.

Note: If you install an older version of a JRE when the newer version of the same feature family already exists, an error is displayed, prompting you to uninstall a newer JRE version if an older version has to be installed.

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