JRE 7 Installation for Linux Platforms

See JDK 7 and JRE 7 Installation Guide for general information about installing JDK 7 and JRE 7.

For information on enhancements to JDK 7 that relate to the installer, see Installer Enhancements in JDK 7.

Contents

Note: For RPM-based Linux distributions, such as Red Hat or SuSE, refer to the RPM-based installation instructions.

System Requirements

See Oracle JDK 7 and JRE 7 Certified Systems 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 7 Installation Instructions

Note: For any text on this page containing the following notation, you must substitute the appropriate JRE update version number for the notation. 
    <version>
For example, if you are installing update JRE 7 update release 1, the following string representing the name of the bundle: 
    jre-7u<version>-linux-i586.tar.gz
would become: 
    jre-7u1-linux-i586.tar.gz

Note that, as in the preceding example, the <version> number is sometimes preceded with the letter u, for example, 7u2, and sometimes it is preceded with an underbar, for example, jre1.7.0_02.

The following table lists the options available for downloading the JRE 7 release on a Linux platform. The link in the first column takes you to the instructions for that version.

Download File Architecture Who Can Install
jre-7u<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz 64-bit anyone
jre-7u<version>-linux-i586.tar.gz 32-bit anyone
jre-7u<version>-linux-x64.rpm 64-bit RPM-based Linux root
jre-7u<version>-linux-i586.rpm 32-bit RPM-based Linux root


Note: JDK 7u6 and later releases include JavaFX SDK (version 2.2 or later). The JavaFX Runtime is installed and integrated into the standard JRE directory structure.

For information about how to work with JavaFX, see JavaFX Documentation.

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-7u<version>-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. Move the .tar.gz archive binary to the current directory.

3. Unpack the tarball and install the JRE.

    % tar zxvf jre-7u<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz

The JRE files are installed in a directory called jre1.7.0_<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-7u<version>-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-7u<version>-linux-x64.rpm
To upgrade a package: 
    # rpm -Uvh jre-7u<version>-linux-x64.rpm

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

6. Exit the root shell. No need to reboot.

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-7u<version>-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. Move the .tar.gz archive binary to the current directory.

3. Unpack the tarball and install the JRE.

    % tar zxvf jre-7u<version>-linux-i586.tar.gz

The JRE files are installed in a directory called jre1.7.0_<version> 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-7u<version>-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-7u<version>-linux-i586.rpm
To upgrade a package: 
    # rpm -Uvh jre-7u<version>-linux-i586.rpm

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

6. Exit the root shell. No need to reboot.

General Installation Notes

Root Access

Installing the software automatically creates a directory called jre1.7.0_<version>. Note that if you choose to install the Java SE Runtime Environment into 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 jre1.7.0_<version>, the new software overwrites files of the same name in that jre1.7.0_<version> directory. Please be careful to rename the old directory if it contains files you would like 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 the Preferences API documentation for more information about preferences in the Java platform.

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