Ubuntu – Install oracle-java7-installer through apt-cacher-ng

apt-cacher-ng

I've added the oracle-java7-installer ppa to my apt-cacher-ng server and to my clients. I cannot get it to install.

Any ideas on how I can do this? I think it fails when it tries to download the installation from Oracle. This is what happens when I try to install it:

admin@vgjs001:~$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  gsfonts gsfonts-x11 java-common libfontenc1 libxfont1 x11-common xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils
Suggested packages:
  default-jre equivs binfmt-support visualvm ttf-baekmuk ttf-unfonts ttf-unfonts-core ttf-kochi-gothic
  ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-kochi-mincho ttf-sazanami-mincho ttf-arphic-uming firefox firefox-2 iceweasel
  mozilla-firefox iceape-browser mozilla-browser epiphany-gecko epiphany-webkit epiphany-browser galeon midbrowser
  moblin-web-browser xulrunner xulrunner-1.9 konqueror chromium-browser midori google-chrome
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gsfonts gsfonts-x11 java-common libfontenc1 libxfont1 oracle-java7-installer x11-common xfonts-encodings
  xfonts-utils
0 upgraded, 9 newly installed, 0 to remove and 10 not upgraded.
Need to get 4 269 kB/4 347 kB of archives.
After this operation, 7 548 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 
Get:1 "hyperlink-1" "repo-1" gsfonts all 1:8.11+urwcyr1.0.7~pre44-4.2ubuntu1 [3 374 kB]
Get:2 "hyperlink-2" "repo-2"  libfontenc1 amd64 1:1.1.0-1 [15,4 kB]                         
Get:3 "hyperlink-3" "repo-3"  libxfont1 amd64 1:1.4.4-1 [133 kB]                            
Get:4 "hyperlink-4" "repo-4"  x11-common all 1:7.6+12ubuntu1 [57,7 kB]                      
Get:5 "hyperlink-5" "repo-5"  xfonts-encodings all 1:1.0.4-1ubuntu1 [583 kB]                
Get:6 "hyperlink-6" "repo-6"  xfonts-utils amd64 1:7.6+1 [96,4 kB]                          
Get:7 "hyperlink-7" "repo-7"  gsfonts-x11 all 0.22 [9 108 B]                                
Fetched 3 232 kB in 33s (95,1 kB/s)                                                                                   
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package java-common.
download failed
Oracle JDK 7 is NOT installed.
dpkg: error processing oracle-java7-installer (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up gsfonts (1:8.11+urwcyr1.0.7~pre44-4.2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libfontenc1 (1:1.1.0-1) ...
Setting up libxfont1 (1:1.4.4-1) ...
Setting up x11-common (1:7.6+12ubuntu1) ...
Setting up xfonts-encodings (1:1.0.4-1ubuntu1) ...
Setting up xfonts-utils (1:7.6+1) ...
Setting up gsfonts-x11 (0.22) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 oracle-java7-installer
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Best Answer

I was just battling with this, here are my findings for Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr.

The installer uses apt-config to determine which proxy to use. Specifically if Acquire::http::Proxy::download.oracle.com returns DIRECT to determine whether to use the default proxy of to download directly.

Specifically the install runs

# use apt proxy
APT_PROXIES=$(apt-config shell \
http_proxy Acquire::http::Proxy \
https_proxy Acquire::https::Proxy \
ftp_proxy Acquire::ftp::Proxy \
dl_direct Acquire::http::Proxy::download.oracle.com \
)

And later on

if [ "$dl_direct" = "DIRECT" ]; then
    unset http_proxy
    unset https_proxy
    unset ftp_proxy
fi

If you use the following apt config then the installer with download directly:

Acquire::http::Proxy "http://my.proxy.com:3142";
Acquire::http::Proxy {
        download.oracle.com DIRECT;
};

While this works it is somewhat annoying as the download takes forever and that somewhat defeats the purpose of the proxy.

I found that the installer checks a debconf variable to check whether to use a local file. The property checked is oracle-java8-installer/local and it is a string.

Specifically the installer runs:

db_get oracle-java8-installer/local
if [ -d "$RET" -a -f "$RET"/$FILENAME ]; then

    echo "Installing from local file $RET/$FILENAME"
    cp -f -p "$RET"/$FILENAME ${FILENAME}_TEMP
    mv -f ${FILENAME}_TEMP $FILENAME
else # no local file

So if you have the JDK downloaded and in a directory /jdk/dir then you need to run the following command before running the installer:

sudo debconf-set-selections <<< 'debconf oracle-java8-installer/local string /jdk/dir/'

Note the trailing / on the directory - this is required.