Switching between OpenJDK v.6 and v.7 in Debian 7 Wheezy

In Debian 7 Wheezy for the architecture amd64 (most of the modern 64-bit architectures) the default OpenJDK is OpenJDK v.6.

But what if you want OpenJDK v.7 (Java 7)?

Debian Wiki ( http://wiki.debian.org/Java ) already have the answer, what and how to do, but this answer mining should take you for a while...

Here is the howto.

First, open the terminal and
$ su -l

Now install the JDKs:
# aptitude install default-jdk default-jre openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jdk openjdk-7-jre openjdk-7-jdk java-common

This will take you for a while.

At Debian 7 the default JDK/JRE version is managed by the 'alternatives' system. So, to list the available (installed) JDKs, type:
# update-java-alternatives -l
The output will be like this:
java-1.6.0-openjdk-amd64 1061 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-amd64
java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64 1051 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64

Now let's switch to Java 7:
# update-java-alternatives -s java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64

That's all!

Please, check the Java version:
$ java -version
$ javac -version
In both cases, the versions should be like 1.7.*

Enjoy!

Installing Skype at Debian 7 'Wheezy' for AMD64 architecture

Hi all,

About a month ago Debian Community released the long-awaited Debian 7 'Wheezy':
http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130504

It includes a lot of new features. The most notable, of course, is GNOME 3 user interface. It's amazing!

GNOME 3 Screenshot

Skype at Debian 7

Most of the user computers now are 64-bit machines (usually everything works fine with AMD64 version). But Skype provides binaries only for 32-bit architecture (i386). Fortunately, Milti-Arch support at Debian solves this problem!

Debian Wiki page about Skype ( http://wiki.debian.org/skype ) is written in a too complicated way. It took me a while to understand: what is connected to what?

To simplify Debian users' life, here is the

Step by step installation manual

Install Debian 7 'Wheezy' (I'm using AMD64 version). Straight forward process: http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ . Nothing special.

After finishing installation, open Terminal (in GNOME 3: Activities -> Applications -> Terminal).

Log in as root:
$ su -l
If you disabled root login during the installation process, you may run $ sudo bash OR insert sudo in front of the following commands.

Now add the new architecture i386:
# dpkg --add-architecture i386
# aptitude clean && aptitude update

Install libpulse:
# aptitude install libpulse0 libpulse0:i386

Then, download Skype:
# wget -O skype-install.deb http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-deb

WARNING: Fork: Here this manual way diverges from presented one at Debian Wiki!

Install Skype dependencies:
# dpkg-deb --field skype-install.deb Depends
# aptitude install <every package from the dpkg-deb output, adding :i386 suffix>

Closing the finish line, install Skype itself:
# dpkg --install skype-install.deb

The last thing to do is to enable "[x] Check for update on startup" in the ‘Advanced’ tab of the options menu in Skype. In this case Skype will notify you about new versions.

That's all! :) Enjoy!