As I recently pointed out, Sun finally changed its license so that distros like Debian can include the Sun JRE. Thanks, Sun! Here's the command you need to run:

apt-get install sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin sun-java5-fonts sun-java5-bin

That'll do it, fair readers.

(Check out all of our posts on Sun and Java.)

Well, golly, it only took what - about 10 years? But finally someone at Sun - maybe its the new CEO, Jonathan Schwartz - has seen the light & will make it far easier for Linux distros to include the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Up to now, Linux users have had to download the JRE, and Sun didn't exactly make that task simple, or they've had to use repositories that did the work for them, but those weren't fully kosher, so that was always non-obvious as well. Now, though, you should be able to install your distro, & the JRE will come with it. Wow, how handy ... just as Java finds itself being eclipsed by gads of other languages and options, now we'll be able to enjoy it in its sunset years. Thanks, Sun!

(Check out all of our posts on Sun & Java.)