The Howto (and Howto-Not) Corner

So you want to add another alternative to the update-alternatives list in Ubuntu or Debian? Here's an example for Java.

Assumptions: Sun's binary JDK installed to /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/.

Add all it's basic tools to the list as follows:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/java 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/javac 1
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javaws javaws /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/javaws 1

or even simpler:

for p in java javac javaws
do
 sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/$p $p /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/$p 1
done