How to install Java 7 & 8 on Solaris

In this how to, I will show you how to install Java 7 on a Solaris 10 operating system. These instructions will work if you need to install Java 8, as well. There have been some changes in the way Java is updated and installed. Now you can also update Java by using packages, unlike before when you had to install a package, to install a program and then patch to upgrade the program. This can be very helpful when installing Java 7 and 8, as Java 7 and 8 didn't come with Solaris 10 and getting patches for these versions of Java can be difficult if you don't have a software contract with Oracle. Oracle will only give patches Java 4, 5 and 6 if you only have a hardware contract with them. You can still update Java via patches like before, as explained in my previous post Updating Java on Solaris, With Oracle's new way way of doing things, we can install and patch Java on a Solaris system much faster and easier then ever before.

Download java

1) Go to java.com
2) Click on Free Java Download button
3) Click on See all Java downloads
4) Scroll down to the bottom of the page to where the Solaris files are.
5) Download the version you need for the platform to your using.

Installation of Java

1) Extract both the 32bit and 64bit versions of Java
Run the gzip -dc or zcat commands to extract the files

On SPARC processors

root@earth> gzip -dc jdk-7u80-solaris-sparc.tar.Z |tar xf -
root@earth> gzip -dc jdk-7u80-solaris-sparcv9.tar.Z |tar xf -

or

root@earth> zcat jdk-7u80-solaris-sparc.tar.Z |tar xf -
root@earth> zcat jdk-7u80-solaris-sparcv9.tar.Z |tar xf -

On x64/EM64T processors

root@earth> zcat jdk-7u80-solaris-i586.tar.Z | tar xf -
root@earth> zcat jdk-7u80-solaris-x64.tar.Z | tar xf -

Note - If you ran the commands as shown above, you will find the packages in same directory the .tar.Z files are in.

2) Install the packages
Enter the command below, when prompted answer yes to all the questions.

root@earth> pkgadd -d . SUNWj7rt SUNWj7dev SUNWj7cfg SUNWj7man
root@earth> pkgadd -d . SUNWj7rtx SUNWj7dvx

Note - If you want a minimal install, then all you need to install is SUNWj7rt & SUNWj7rtx

Note - Java 8 has combined the 32 bit and 64 bit versions, so you only need to install what appears to be only the 32 bit version.

Now you are done, congratulations. If you want more info, review the references and man pages below. Also be sure to checkout some of my other posts on Java.

References
Installation Instructions form Java.com
The Offical Instructions from Oracle

Man Pages
pkgadd
gzip
zcat

Related posts on this blog:
How to install or upgrade Java in Linux
Updating Java on Solaris
Checking Java Versions Remotely
Download Java in MOS
Access the Java Control Panel
Updating Java in NetBackup

If have any question on how to install Java on Solaris then feel free to ask below.