How to install Java 8 on Debian Jessie

Despite the fact that Java is becoming a less used programming language, it is true that there are still important applications that need this programming language and its virtual machine. Programs like LibreOffice or web browsers still need this add-on.

Next we tell you how to install java 8 on our Debian Jessie, a simple and simple process for which we will only need a terminal and an Internet connection.

There are two ways to make Java 8 on our Debian Jessie. The first one is use Java 8 properly and install it in our distribution. The second method is install in our OpenJDK distribution, a free alternative to Java 8 that works the same as Java but is totally free.

To install Java 8 quickly we have to open a terminal in Jessie and write the following:

su -
echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu xenial main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-java.list
echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu xenial main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-java.list
apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys EEA14886
apt-get update
apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
exit

This will install Java 8 on Debian using the Webupd8 repository, a famous very useful repository with necessary programs like Java 8. However, this only installs Java 8 on Debian Jessie, now we have to tell the distribution to use Java 8 when needed. To do this, from the same terminal we write:

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-set-default

There another alternative so that programs that use Java can work without having proprietary programs. For this we will install OpnJDK, a program that works the same as Java but is a free version. To install OpenJDK we have to open the terminal and write the following:

echo "deb http://http.debian.net/debian jessie-backports main" | \
sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jessie-backports.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -t jessie-backports openjdk-8-jdk

And with that OpenJDK will be installed. Now, as with the previous method, we have to tell Debian Jessie that use OpenJDK as the default program for anyone requesting the use of Java. So we have to write the following:

sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64

Any of the methods will make Java 8 be on our computer, or at least it will make our applications work correctly without consuming large resources.