How to install Java JRE on FreeBSD with as few dependencies as possible

Question

I've been trying to get Java working on my FreeBSD 7.1 server. I just want the runtime, since the JDK drags all kinds of unnecessary dependencies with it, and I just need it to run a jar file periodically. I've installed the FreeBSD-supported diablo-jre, but whenever I try to run it, I get a:

/usr/local/diablo-jre1.6.0/bin/java: 2: Syntax error: "(" unexpected

So what to do?

Solution 1

Ah, I've figured it out. For all this time, I've been trying to run the amd64 version on a machine that's still running i386. Mea culpa.

So to install Java on your FreeBSD server with as few depedencies as possible:

• Download the tarball (make sure to pick the one under the tarballs header, and for the correct FreeBSD version and platform) from The FreeBSD foundation's Java downloads.
• Put the downloaded file in /usr/ports/distfiles/
• # cd /usr/ports/java/diablo-jre16
• # make config install clean
• Be sure to disable all optional components from the configuration screen.
• Let the installation run its course and be happy :)

Solution 2

file /usr/local/diablo-jre1.6.0/bin/java

Will probably tell you that java is actually a shell script that sets up an environment and launches the real JRE

Comments

[svrist]

Yeah. Could be wrong shell messing up the script

[mikl]

It does not appear to be so – the command returns: /usr/local/diablo-jre1.6.0/bin/java: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (FreeBSD), for FreeBSD 7.0 (700055), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), FreeBSD-style, not stripped

[Dave Cheney]

Weird, try strace'ing it (or the FreeBSD alternative, truss ?)

[mikl]

Ok, I've tried with truss (no strace) and it gives this result: dpaste.com/hold/41024 – I'm not a real expert into such things, but it looks like there's something completely wrong with the Java binary.

[Dave Cheney]

Wow, and the prize of worse error message goes too ... FreeBSD!