Install Sun Java on Debian Lenny

Installing Java on Windows is easy. Simply download .exe file and run it. But on Debian Linux it's a little bit harder because it's non-free software.

It's free as in beer. So you can actually "taste" it, but cannot get the source code.

How to install Sun Java on Debian Lenny?

1. Open Terminal and login as root (type "su" and then type a password)

2. Type:

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

3. In file change:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main
deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main

to:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free
deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free

Save it.

4. Refresh aptitude packages by typing:

apt-get update

5. Type:

apt-get install sun-java6-jre

to install Java 6 from Sun.