Getting Java plugin to work with Firefox on Linux

[kogorman]

When I try some of my favorite Java-driven sites,
they do not work with my Firefox 0.9.1, but bring
up a window that promises to install the plugin.
It seems to do a download, but Java does not end
up working.

Java is enabled.

How can I make this work? Environment: gentoo Linux,
Firefox 0.9.1, dual Xeon machine.

++ kevin

[encyclo]

It's a pain, but I find he best way is to do it manually. If you have the plugin directly in the Firefox plugins directory, Firefox crashes. So...:

1: Install Java Runtime Environment from java.sun.com

2: Find the path to the plugin - on my system, it is:

/usr/java/j2re1.4.2/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32

3: Find the plugins directory for Firefox - on my system, it is:

/usr/local/firefox-0.9.1/plugins

4. Create a Symlink in the Firefox plugins directory pointing to the plugin file

libjavaplugin_oji.so

:

ln -s /usr/java/j2re1.4.2/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/local/firefox-0.9.1/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

And restart Firefox. Hope that helps!

[kogorman]

Thanks. That did it (modulo changing a few names
because I have the Blackdown kit).

++ kevin

[hobo]

I've followed exactly the steps described here. Now java works great in both Firefox and Mozilla as long as I run it as root. If I run it as regular user, Firefox will not launch at all, and while Mozilla will, it does not do java. I checked permissions, and they all seem okay. Is there something obvious or known I am missing? I am running Firefox 0.8, Mozilla 1.7, j2 runtime 1.4.2, RH linux 9.0. I've been trying to figure it out for the past couple of hours and am getting frustrated.

[hobo]

Well, after comparing a bunch of strace files I noticed that chrome.rdf now had

rw root root

which made it impossible for regular user to read. I changed that, firefox loads now without a problem, and then promptly crashes if I try to launch a java applet with a message:

Error occurred during initialization of VM
java/lang/NoClassDefFoundError: java/lang/Object
INTERNAL ERROR on Browser End: Could not read ack from child process
System error?:: Resource temporarily unavailable

Still works fine if su'ed to root (with user's env). Bummer.

[hobo]

Got it to work to the point where it load and runs. Java applet appears to load, but cannot do anything in it. At the bottom it displays a message, "Applet sPass notinited" (if Firefox or Mozilla are launched as root, the message reads, "Applet sPass started"). I'll try to track this problem tomorrow.