Currently there is an issue with building the Android Open Source project on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, or more specific with the Java 5 support. Java 5 was obsoleted by Sun on October 30 2009 and is not part of the Ubuntu 9.10 distribution. However there is still a need to use Java 5 for building Android since Java6 is not yet supported. There are two methods to get Java5 working on Ubuntu 9.10.
Method 1 - download and install from Sun
This method will let you install the Java5 JDK in a separate directory and add it to the path when
Download the Java5 JDK for Linux from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/5u21/jdk
This is a binary file that you should save to a suitable location like ~/tools
In order to make i executable chmod the file as
$ chmod 777 jdk-1_5_0_21-linux-i586.binand run it
$ ./jdk-1_5_0_21-linux-i586.binThis will install the jdk to the current directory.
To use the JDK5 tools you need to add it first in the path before building the Android Open Source Project
$ export PATH=~/tools/jdk1.5.0_21/bin:$PATHThis allows you to remove the JDK5 from the path when not building Android and use the standard Java settings instead.
Method 2 - use the Ubuntu 9.04 repositories to get Java5
This method adds the Jaunty repositories and installs Java5 as the default java setting in the system. Open the sources file (/etc/apt/sources.list) for editing, as root
$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.listand add:
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates multiverse
save the file and close gedit. Next sync your sources by running
$ sudo apt-get updateand install
$ sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdkTo set the system to use Java 5 you need to update your java alternatives by running
$ sudo update-alternatives --config javaChoose java-1.5.0-sun and you should be done.
Hopefully the Android Open Source Project will build with Java 6 shortly but the above solutions should get you going with platform work on Ubuntu 9.10.
