Installing Java Plugins for Firefox 3.6 on CentOS 5

NetCraftsmen®

I needed to get Java working with Firefox on my CentOS box.  The primary reason was to do some additional NAC testing with Linux.  I’ve been having a much harder time getting it installed than I originally thought.  I finally got it working and wanted to share my steps and links.

1.  Download the Java RPM from http://www.java.com.  I used the self extracting file.

2.  Create the /usr/java directory and place self extracting  file there

3.  Change the file to make it executable with “chmod a+x jre-6u21-linux-i586.bin”

4.  Execute the file by typing “./jre-6u21-linux-i586.bin”

5.  cd to the “/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins” directory

6.  Create the following two symbolic links within that directory

ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_21/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_21/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

7.  Close any open Firefox web browsers

8.  Open a Firefox web browser

9.  In the URL field, type “about:plugins”.  You should see references to Java plugins.

There are a lot of references on the internet that have the first symbolic link shown above, but the only reference I found to the second symbolic link was the second reference below.  That was the final step that made it work for me.

References

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/709336

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/linux_install.xml#14

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