Installing non-debian java tar

[wcrowshaw@yahoo.com]

Installing a non-debian java tar has proven to be
quite a pain in the ass on Debian woody.  I had to
go with the tar file because IBM is the only java
distribution that offers Java 1.4 for a PowerPC.
(sadly).

While I had it set up  and running pretty well, my set up
pretty much gets messed up everytime I run dselect.

Here's my setup.  I've installed IBM's java at
/usr/local/IBMJava2-ppc-141

I've added to my PATH the following:
/usr/local/IBMJava2-ppc-141/jre/bin

This directory contains java and javaw.

According to the IBM install docs and help on the
net, I've added the
following enviro. variables:
JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/IBMJava2-ppc-141
JAVA_COMPILER=jitc
JITC_PROCESSOR_TYPE=6

I didn't have the java-virtual-machine dummy package
installed, nor did I have gij installed.

All was well in javaland with this set up.  dselect
however messed everything up after I started
installing non-java packages and the one java
package which I used jedit.  Without the other java
packages installed, dselect/apt naturally makes a
bunch of depending complaints.  At first I tried
placing the needed packages on hold.  But these
would be set to be installed.  dselect also kept
trying to remove jedit.  Most of these decisions
dselect unhelpfully made on its own (I've been using
dselect for years, so I usually know what I'm doing
with this thing).

At this point, I've lost the ability to run java by
simply calling "java" from the CLI.  Currently it
complains the following:
JVM not found: libjvm.so  - libjvm.so 

I've given up trying to fight dselect and finally
installed the java-virtual machine dummy package.
I've also installed the gij (which I don't want to
use).

I've also added an update-alternatives for
/usr/local/IBMJava2-ppc-141/jre/bin/java

Even when I set this as the default /usr/bin/java
command I get the above error.  At this point the
only way I can run java is by calling it using the
full path which is rather annoying.

If anyone could help me set up java properly on
debian woody when its been installed from a .tar
file I would greatly appreciate it.  At best I
would just like to get rid of the "JVM not found"
message and run java simply by type the "java" at
the command line.

Please respond as well to me directly in e-mail
since I'm not (yet) a subscriber to this list.

-- 
William crowshaw