Deal with Java - Embedding Java into an (old) Web Browser

descr

Why do Java, Silverlight, Adobe Acrobat and other plugins no longer work? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/npapi-plugins

warning // lessons learned

an alternative is to use openjdk + icedtea-plugin, might be easier… this here is quite cumbersome

you need an older version of oracle java what still contains the libnpjp2.so plugin – we’re good with jdk1.8.0_192

I found it here

java setup

look at what java version ilo3 applet refers to. here on an up-to-date proliant g7 ilo3, it refers to java 8

grab or find the right oracle java archive as mentioned above

    tar xzf jdk-8u192-linux-x64.tar.gz
    ls -lhF /usr/lib/jvm/
    mv jdk1.8.0_192/ /usr/lib/jvm/

handy symlink for further reference

    ln -s jdk1.8.0_192 /usr/lib/jvm/legacy-java

firefox setup

then install an old version of Firefox ESR, namely v52

cd ~/opt/
#rm -rf firefox/

ver=52.9.0esr

wget https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/$ver/linux-x86_64/en-US/firefox-$ver.tar.bz2

tar xjf firefox-$ver.tar.bz2
cd firefox/

YOU ALSO NEED TO PREVENT IT FROM UPDATING ITSELF TO v60

ls -lF update*
rm -f update*

ready to go (avoid conflicting with the other firefox)

./firefox --no-remote --ProfileManager
(create ilo profile)

then

./firefox --no-remote -P ilo

ls -ldF ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.ilo/

also disable updates from the Settings

Edit > Preferences
Advanced / Update
==> check - never check for updates
==> uncheck - automatically update: search engines

java plugin setup

deploy the Java plugin

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins/
cd ~/.mozilla/plugins/

a symlink is required, don’t ask me my a simple copy doesn’t work

#ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
#ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jre1.7.0_80/...
ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.8.0_192/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

an alternative could be the shared plugins folder

# /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/

also handy symlink

ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.8.0_192/jre/lib/security/java.policy

weaken the crypto requirements

#ControlPanel
/usr/lib/jvm/legacy-java/bin/jcontrol

security
add exceptions e.g.
    https://192.168.x.x
    https://localhost:xx (the port number matters)
    http://localhost:xx (the port number matters)

to get to the Java console of e.g. some old enterprise-class servers, a quick and dirty fix would be

updatedb
locate java.policy

#cp -pi /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/security/java.policy \
#   /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/security/java.policy.dist
#vi /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/security/java.policy

#conf=/etc/java-8-oracle/security/java.policy
#conf=/etc/java-8-openjdk/security/java.policy
conf=/usr/lib/jvm/legacy-java/jre/lib/security/java.policy

cp -pi $conf $conf.dist
vi $conf

replace that whole stanza

grant {
    permission java.security.AllPermission;
};

resources

Linux 64-bit installation instructions for Java https://www.java.com/en/download/help/linux_x64_install.xml

Java Downloads for Linux https://www.java.com/en/download/linux_manual.jsp

9 Manual Installation and Registration of Java Plugin for Linux https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/install/linux_plugin.html