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How to set JAVA_HOME environment variable in Ubuntu

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:02:00 GMT

I am actually creating this blog entry as a bookmark for myself, but since I know that I never remember how to do it, others might benefit as well!

One way that you can set your JAVA_HOME variable and add to your PATH, is be doing the folowing. As 'sudo' open up /etc/bash.bashrc and add the following to the end of the file. NOTE: Set the java path to whatever the actual path is on your environment if it does not match /usr/lib/jvm/java

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java export JAVA_HOME PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin export PATH

When you reboot, try running the following:

$ echo $JAVA_HOME /usr/lib/jvm/java  echo $PATH [probably lots of paths]:/usr/lib/jvm/java/bin

How to install KDE 4.1 on Ubuntu Hardy 8.01 and my impressions of it

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:02:00 GMT

With yesterday's announcement of the 4.1.0 release of KDE, my willpower did not allow me to go another day without giving KDE4 another shot. For a bit of history, I have been using Gnome for several years. In the past 3 months or so I began using KDE 3.5.9 long enough that I began to enjoy it and realize that it is a nice desktop environment as well. At this point I really have no favorite between the two and like different things about both of them.

When the first releases of KDE 4 started showing up several months ago, I gave it a shot but was extremely underwhelmed. While it came with all the warnings from the community that the 4.0 release was nothing more than the introduction of a new platform which developers would expand, some of the basic pieces of it just felt wrong. I can clearly say that after spending most of an afternoon using it, running my development environment, and doing basic daily functions, 4.1 is light years beyond the first peak I had of it. I am *really* enjoying it so far and I have a feeling it will be my desktop of choice for the immediate future.

One thing that seems to not be common knowledge to some people is that you can just install it and try it out without affecting your existing desktop environments, be it KDE 3.5.x or Gnome. For example, my current installation started out as Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. Shortly after installing I added Gnome by running:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Then in the GDM or KDM login window, I had options for either logging in using Gnome or the default KDE. Thankfully the two coexist without bothering each other, and I can switch back and forth at will. I took the same approach today when installing KDE 4.1, planning to keep both Gnome and KDE 3.5 as fallback positions or simply to use when I am in the mood.

If this type of setup sounds like something you want to try out, do the following. First, add the following repo into your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu hardy main

After adding that you will want to update your repos by running:

sudo apt-get update

Then to install KDE 4.1 you will run the following:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-kde4-desktop kdeplasma-addons amarok-kde4 and kontact-kde4 kate-kde4 kmail-kde4

Notice that I am also updating several applications, such as kate, amaroK, kmail, and kontact. Kdeplasma-addons also brings you some extra goodies beyond the base install. During that installation you will be prompted to choose your login manager. KDE4 brings you yet another option beyond GDM and KDM. I chose it and it is a really nice clean look. I recommend giving it a look. Once the installation completes, restart X or reboot and have fun!

Firebug with Firefox 3 in Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:42:06 GMT

Several months ago when I first tried out Firefox 3, I found that I couldn't get Firebug to work. At that time, I was still on 7.10 (Gutsy) and just rolled back to Firefox 2 and carried on about my business. Once I upgraded to 8.04 (Hardy), where its default Firefox is FF3, I tried again. I still had failures and no matter which "fix" I came across, I still was never able to open Firebug in a panel, but only in a separate window.

That all changed this morning! I was looking through packages and discovered that there is a Firebug package in the Ubuntu repos. I promptly uninstalled Firebug from the extensions settings in the Firefox and closed my browser. I went to terminal and typed:

$ sudo apt-get install firebug

... I then opened up Firefox 3 and BAM! It works exactly like it should. I have no idea what the difference is in this version of Firebug, but for whatever reason, my problems are solved.

CF8 error after upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 Hardy Heron - libstdc++.so.5

Thu, 01 May 2008 23:07:00 GMT

This afternoon I did an upgrade from Gutsy to Hardy on my main development environment. I experienced *almost* no disruption to my system, with one exception (so far!). When I instantiated a ColdFusion 8 application which instantiates a webservice onApplicationStart, I received the following exception:

jikes: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Jikes! Well fortunately the fix is quite simple. Go to a terminal and install libstdc++5 like so:
$ sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

Restart your application and carry on! I am not sure what changed between the distros, but apparently the libraries that ColdFusion uses for invoking webservices depend on this package.

Adding spell checking to Evolution mail client

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:41:00 GMT

I am not sure why I have never pusued this until today, but I for some reason have never spent the time to figure out why I didn't have spell checking in my Evolution mail client. I knew that Evolution used the packages aspell and gnome-spell, which I already had installed, so why wasn't it working?

When I went into my composer settings in the Evolution preferences, I saw a big empty box that was the list of dictionaries that Evolution was using. You would think there would be some method of adding them from there, but unfortunately it isn't quite that obvious. To add the English dictionary I had to install the package aspell-en. Once I added this I reopened Evolution and Bamn!

There it is. For the copy/paste inclined, try the following:

#sudo apt-get install aspell gnome-spell aspell-en

Playing with my new webcam under Linux - watch me work!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:10:00 GMT

I made an impulse buy this past week ordering a Tripp-Lite clip-on webcam for my laptop. My wife and I are leaving next weekend to go on a week-long cruise without our kids, and I thought it might be fun to post some video blog entries for them while we are gone so they (and ultimately you as well) can see what we are up to.

I chose the Tripp-Lite camera due to pretty consistently positive cost/value reviews, although I was a bit worried that I couldn't find a single instance of anyone on the internet actually using one under Linux. Why should that stop me, huh? When it arrived I plugged it in and... nada... nothing! Although my laptop could see the device, I couldn't seem to get the drivers to work. After doing some digging around I found that it uses the Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. ZC0301 WebCam chipset, which seems to be very common in the cheapo-Chinese-made webcam space. There is an unbelievably awesome project out there where a guy named Michel Xhaard has written drivers for tons of webcam chipsets, and although mine was included I just couldn't seem to get it to work, no matter what I did.

Eventually it hit me that since I am using an Alpha version of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron), perhaps I should roll to a release version and see what happens. Given how easy it is to swap distros in Linux, I decided to roll back to a 7.04 (Feisty) remaster disc that was laying around. Upon plugging in my camera on the new distro it just worked natively! YAY.

So, now I am playing with the apps a bit. I found Camorama which does video captures and can FTP them to a server at regular intervals. I thought it might be fun to create a custom pod on my blog that shows a current picture of me working - or zoning out... picking my nose... whatever. So, the pic of me you see on the left is the most recent of those. The timestamp text is a little small when I resize the pic, but if you view it in full size (or pull out your magnifying glass), you can see the date.

As for recording video in Linux, I created a launcher that allows me to record AVI files with audio using mencoder. For those interested in doing that, you will first need to install mencoder:
$ sudo apt-get install mencoder

I then created a shortcut icon that starts the recording:
mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=320:height=240:device=/dev/video0:forceaudio:adevice=/dev/dsp -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o /home/dshuck/Desktop/webcam.avi

Then I have another shortcut icon to stop the video:
killall mencoder

Look for pointless videos in the near future...

`c->xlib.lock' failed error on Java applications

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:16:00 GMT

I am currently using the Alpha 3 release of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. Considering the fact that it is an alpha release, I tend to not get worked up over little errors that might occur. However, I have found one that I just couldn't get around. I use Aqua Data Studio for my database client and since loading Hardy Heron, I have been unable to run it.

When I would start it from a terminal, I would get a dump that looked like this:

#0 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 [0x90d00767] #1 /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0(xcb_xlib_unlock+0x31) [0x90d008b1] #2 /usr/lib/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0xfd) [0x9039429d] #3 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so [0x9063e8ce] #4 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so [0x9061b067] #5 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so [0x9061b318] #6 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/xawt/libmawt.so(Java_sun_awt_X11GraphicsEnvironment_initDisplay+0x2f) [0x9061b61f] #7 [0xb4cff3aa] #8 [0xb4cf7f0d] #9 [0xb4cf7f0d] #10 [0xb4cf5249] #11 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/server/libjvm.so [0x637338d] #12 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/server/libjvm.so [0x64fd168] #13 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/server/libjvm.so [0x6373220] #14 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/server/libjvm.so(JVM_DoPrivileged+0x363) [0x63c90d3] #15 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/libjava.so(Java_java_security_AccessController_doPrivileged__Ljava_security_PrivilegedAction_2+0x3d) [0xb7d1096d] #16 [0xb4cff3aa] #17 [0xb4cf7da7] #18 [0xb4cf5249] #19 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.04/jre/lib/i386/server/libjvm.so [0x637338d] java: xcb_xlib.c:82: xcb_xlib_unlock: Assertion 'c->xlib.lock' failed. Aborted (core dumped)

Considering the fact that I used the Ubuntu sun-java6-jdk package from the Ubuntu repository, I decided that I would try the self-extracting bin that is available on http://java.sun.com. After swapping to that JVM, I still received the same dump and abort. After doing a bit of searching, I came across a patch in one of the bug reporting forums that effectively patches your JVM and prevents this error from occurring. I ran the patch and now everything works as it should. If you are receiving this error, create a shell script with the following content and run it. Assuming that it runs successfully, you should then be able to open the Java application that was failing.

#!/bin/sh # S. Correia # 2007 11 21 # A simple script to patch the java library in order # to solve the problem with "Assertion 'c->xlib.lock' failed." # see bug http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6532373 LIB_TO_PATCH=libmawt.so for f in 'find /usr/lib/jvm -name "$LIB_TO_PATCH"' do echo "Patching library $f" sudo sed -i 's/XINERAMA/FAKEEXTN/g' "$f" done

Big thanks to "S. Correia" for getting me back on my feet!

Installing the JRE plugin in Firefox on Ubuntu

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:59:00 GMT

I have now been using Ubuntu for about 2 years, and oddly enough one thing that has always evaded me is how to properly set up the JRE plugin in Firefox. It *seems* like that ought to be an easy process, but it is one of those annoying little things that just hasn't worked for me, although it has never been important enough for me to chase down.

Yesterday I had to do a Webex presentation that required the JRE plugin, so I decided it was time to hack my way through it. One thing that I was thinking my be a factor is that I use Swiftfox instead of Firefox. I decided to take that out of the equation just to make sure, so I went ahead and removed it. When running Firefox and hitting about:plugins in the address bar, I could clearly see that the Java plugin was not in the list. I looked in ~/.mozilla/plugins, and saw a libjavaplugin.so in there, but it was obviously not doing its job.

So, after a lot of floundering, here are the basic steps I took that got me going...

First, I completely uninstalled Firefox:
$ sudo apt-get --purge remove firefox
I then reinstalled it:
$ sudo apt-get install firefox
Next, I had previously installed the sun-java2-bin package, so I wanted to wipe all evidence of that and reinstall it. I did the following:
$ sudo apt-get --purge remove sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin
To reinistall it I did:
$ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin
After doing this I opened Firefox and put about:plugins and still didn't see the Java stuff. At this point, I went into my ~/.mozilla/plugins directory. From earlier attempts I had some libjavaplugin.so and libjavaplugin-[something I don't remember].so. I decided to kill those off:
$ sudo rm libjavaplugin*
At this point looking around I found a file /etc/alternatives/firefox-javaplugin.so that seemed like a decent candidate, so I did a symlink like this:
$ ln -s /etc/alternatives/firefox-javaplugin.so ./libjavaplugin.so

At this point I restarted the browser, hit about:plugins and was thrilled to see an entirely new section for Java!

Now, take the steps above with a grain of salt. I certainly don't want to infer that this is by any means the right way to get it working, but it is the series of steps that finally got it working for me. Hopefully someone else might get something out of it as well.

Fix for Evolution email client error: Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:10:00 GMT

This afternoon, my Evolution email client started popping up an error message "Summary and folder mismatch, even after a sync" as I would enter the various folders. I finally figured out a fix and everything is back to normal. If you ever get this error, the following steps solved my problem. First, close Evolution. Then run the following:

$ cd ~/.evolution/mail $ cp -r local local.BAK $ cd local $ rm Inbox.ibex.index Inbox.ibex.index.data

Now reopen Evolution and you should be good. I imagine it's safe to delete the .BAK file, but I am holding onto it for a day or so. :)

Confessions of a Linux noob: killall command

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:45:06 GMT

I am usually one for taking the hard approach to solving a problem, and then realizing there is a far easier way to approach it afterwards... sometimes *long* afterwards. I almost hate posting this one considering I have now been using Ubuntu about 6 months, but perhaps I am not the only one out there that didn't know this.

Typically when I have to kill a process in Linux, I type in:

>sudo ps -A

This returns a list of all running processes with their process IDs next to them. I then find the process I am looking for and type:

>sudo kill [whatever process ID]

This works just fine, but there is a far quicker way. All you need to do is:

>sudo killall [process name]

This takes care of the problem in a single step. Go ahead... laugh it up Linux guys.

Windows Vista is fast... just trust Microsoft.

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:03:41 GMT

Wow... just wow!

from this article:

Vista licensing also limits benchmarking

"According to the Vista EULA, because the OS contains "one or more components" of the .Net Framework 3.0, users can conduct internal benchmarking of those components, but can't disclose the results of those benchmarks -- or measurements to compare rival products -- unless they comply with conditions found at a Microsoft Web site"

The article mentions how the restrictions are very vague and confusing, and moreover since they are based on the company website, they could be changed at any time.

Maybe I have just gotten too accustomed to the open source community and how freely that kind of information flows, but this just seems silly to me. If you put out a product, you should be proud to match it up against your competitors.

Warning to early adopters... Ubuntu Edgy Eft vs. ColdFusion Installer

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:33:48 GMT

***UPDATE*** the fix is contained within the comments of this entry. Make sure you read below the blog entry!

As some of you Linux fans may be aware, Edgy is being released this week. I did a dist upgrade to Edgy earlier this week, but rather than just upgrading I actually wiped clean and started with a blank slate. Everything about Edgy is awesome so far, except that there appears to be bug (for now) related to libc6.

When trying to install ColdFusion per my instructions in an earlier blog post , I receive the following errors:

dshuck@dshuck-laptop:~/software$ sudo ./coldfusion-702-lin.bin
Password:
Preparing to install...
Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...
Unpacking the JRE...
Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...
Configuring the installer for this system's environment...
nawk: error while loading shared libraries: libdl.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
dirname: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/bin/ls: error while loading shared libraries: librt.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
basename: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
dirname: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
basename: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Launching installer...

grep: error while loading shared libraries: libc.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
/tmp/install.dir.31599/Linux/resource/jre/bin/java: error while loading shared libraries: libpthread.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

After doing some quick research it appears that there is a bug remaining in Edgy related to libc6 and I have yet to find a workaround. I would imagine that if I had installed ColdFusion on Dapper and they done the dist upgrade, it would be fine. The problem seems to be simply related to building it.

If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

It's like Christmas in October!!!

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 04:46:00 GMT

I thought this day would never come... I would like to offer a very sincere "THANK YOU!" to the Adobe Flash team for all their hard work on getting the Linux version into Beta!

FileZilla for Linux and Mac

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:59:02 GMT

One of the very few programs that I missed moving from Windows to Ubuntu last spring was Filezilla. There are some FTP clients available, but I haven't found any that I liked quite as much. If you look on their project page on SourceForge, it states "FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features". Well here is a cool little find:

Filezilla Devlopment Server Nightly Builds!

There are distributions for Linux, Mac and BSD.

It is clearly not a supported product and not yet out of development, but I have found it to be remarkably stable.

Enjoy!

Grand Canyon... It's on!

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT

My father and I decided that this was the year that we would hike the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I know this seems crazy, but it is actually a paperwork challenge to be able to hike the Grand Canyon. There is an application process in which you have to fax your request in the 1st day of the month 6 months before the intended date of your trip with a detailed itinerary, including where you will be sleeping and when. We sent faxed our paperwork in and held our breath on the 1st of April, 6 months before we hoped to go in September. After no word for a month we finally contacted them, only to find out that we had been rejected. Discouraged, but not beaten, we laid out the calendar to see if there was another time that would work. We decided that November would be acceptable, albeit a little colder. It should be in the 60s in the bottom of the canyon though where we will spend the majority of our time. Once again, we laid out our itinerary and faxed in on July 1. My dad received a letter today dated July 6, 2005 telling him that they were sorry, but they were unable to accept out application. He spent a good hour walking around the house cussing and feeling terribly disappointed. A bit later my mom noticed there was another letter from the Grand Canyon dated July 7, 2005.

Dear Mr. Shuck, we have accepted your request to hike the Grand Canyon on the dates of November 1, 2 and 3, 2005. Enlcosed are your passes, which you will need to affix to your backpack and carry with you in the canyon. There is no need to stop by the back country headquarters before departing on the trail.

So in 3.5 months, I will be taking this in....