BlueJ Installation

for Debian and Ubuntu

These are the instructions for the "deb"-package for BlueJ, which can be installed on Debian, Ubuntu and some other Debian-based distributions.

These instructions are different for BlueJ 4.2.0 and later, versus BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier. BlueJ 4.2.0 and later use Java 11 (or later), which require a 64-bit OS, and use OpenJDK and OpenJFX. BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier ran on 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems, and could use OpenJDK or Oracle JDK. We recommend using the latest version of BlueJ, if you have a 64-bit version of Debian buster (or later) or Ubuntu 18.10 (or later).

Contents

Installation Procedure for BlueJ 4.2.0 and later on Debian

BlueJ 4.2.0 and later requires a 64-bit version of Debian, and depends on packages currently only available in buster (which will become Debian 10 once it is considered stable). The easiest way to install BlueJ is to use GDebi to open the .deb file, which will install the dependencies automatically. Otherwise, follow these instructions:

  1. Start the Terminal Emulator application. You will complete the installation by typing some commands into this application.

  2. Install OpenJDK and OpenJFX using the following command (an internet connection is required):

    su -c "apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk libopenjfx-java"

    Note: Spacing, punctuation and capitalisation are important! Make sure to type commands exactly as they are shown here!

  3. Change the working directory to the Downloads folder (or the folder you chose to save the package to) :

    cd ~/Downloads

  4. Install the package via the following command. You will be prompted to enter the root password:

    su -c "dpkg -i BlueJ-linux-420.deb"

    Note: use the correct filename; above is for BlueJ version 4.2.0. Spacing, punctuation and capitalisation are important! Make sure to type commands exactly as they are shown here!

  5. BlueJ should now be installed. You can run it by typing "bluej" in the terminal, or from the applications menu (under the "Development" category).

Installation Procedure for BlueJ 4.2.0 and later on Ubuntu

BlueJ 4.2.0 and later require a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 18.10 or later.

  1. Download the BlueJ package from the BlueJ website. Upon clicking the download link, you should be given the option to open with Software Install; click Ok to proceed with this option. (If not, double-click the .deb file in the Nautilus file manager.)
  2. The Software Install window should open and present the option to install BlueJ. Click the "Install" button. You may be prompted to enter your password before installation commences. (Installation may take a little while, as OpenJDK will be downloaded and installed along with BlueJ).
  3. Once installation has completed, you can run BlueJ from the menu or by typing "bluej" in the terminal.

Installation Procedure for BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier on Debian

These instructions are for Debian 8 and 9, but may also work with other Debian releases.

  1. Choose whether to run BlueJ with OpenJDK or with the Oracle JDK (see introduction above).

    Note: users of Debian 9 can skip this step if they wish to use OpenJDK.

  2. Download the BlueJ package from the BlueJ website.

    Note: if you have GDebi installed, you can choose to open the package using GDebi, which will then provide a simple interface to complete the installation. Otherwise, save the package to disk, and continue with the following steps.

  3. Start the Terminal Emulator application. You will complete the installation by typing some commands into this application.

  4. If you did not install the Oracle JDK (in step 1), install OpenJDK and OpenJFX using the following commands (an internet connection is required):

    su -c "apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk"
    su -c "apt-get install libopenjfx-java"

    Note: Spacing, punctuation and capitalisation are important! Make sure to type commands exactly as they are shown here!

  5. Change the working directory to the Downloads folder (or the folder you chose to save the package to) :

    cd ~/Downloads

  6. Install the package via the following command. You will be prompted to enter the root password:

    su -c "dpkg -i BlueJ-linux-400.deb"

    Note: use the correct filename; above is for BlueJ version 4.0.0. Spacing, punctuation and capitalisation are important! Make sure to type commands exactly as they are shown here!

  7. BlueJ should now be installed. You can run it by typing "bluej" in the terminal, or from the applications menu (under the "Development" category).

Installation Procedure for BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier on Ubuntu

  1. Choose whether to run BlueJ with OpenJDK or with the Oracle JDK (see introduction above).
    • For OpenJDK, no further steps are necessary; OpenJDK 8 is available in the standard Ubuntu repositories and will be installed automatically when you install BlueJ (if the Oracle JDK is not already installed); or
    • Install the Oracle JDK - see instructions below.
  2. Download the BlueJ package from the BlueJ website. Upon clicking the download link, you should be given the option to open with Software Install; click Ok to proceed with this option.
  3. The Software Install window should open and present the option to install BlueJ. Click the "Install" button. You may be prompted to enter your password before installation commences. (Installation may take a little while if you did not install a JDK previously, as OpenJDK will be downloaded and installed along with BlueJ in this case).
  4. Once installation has completed, you can run BlueJ from the menu or by typing "bluej" in the terminal.

Installing Oracle JDK 8 on Debian for BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier

Note that, as per above, this is optional – BlueJ will run with OpenJDK, which is much easier to install since it is pre-packaged by Debian.

  1. Download the Oracle JDK 8 installer from the Oracle website.
    1. Make sure to choose the JDK download. The download link is in a box headed "Java Platform, Standard Edition".
    2. After clicking the download link, read the license agreement and choose whether or not you accept it. (Note that you cannot install the Oracle JDK without accepting the license agreement).
    3. The file to download contains linux-i586 or linux-x64 in the name, for the 32-bit or 64-bit version respectively (if in doubt, try the 64-bit version first). The filename ends with .tar.gz.
    4. Save the file to your Downloads folder.

  2. You need to add the contrib repository componenets to your APT sources list, if not already enabled. Open the Terminal Emulator application. Type the following in to the terminal window:

    su -c "pico /etc/apt/sources.list"

    Note: you will be prompted to enter your root password.

    3. This will start the "pico" text editor and open the sources.list file. For each line in the file beginning with deb or deb-src, add the word contrib to the end of the line. Once done, use control+O (^O) to save your changes, and control-X (^X) to exit.

    Then, type the following command:

    su -c "apt-get update"

    This will download a list of available packages from your configured sources.

  3. Type the following into the terminal window:

    su -c "apt-get install java-package"

    Note: you will be prompted to enter your root password.

  4. Change the current working directory to your Downloads folder:

    cd ~/Downloads

  5. Make the Java package from the installer that you downloaded previously:

    make-jpkg jdk-8u121-linux-x64.tar.gz

    Note: specify the "jdk" filename exactly as it was in the download link. You will receive a number of prompts for which you can accept the default response (press Enter). The process may take several minutes to complete.

  6. Install the package you just built:

    su -c "dpkg -i oracle-java8-jdk_8u121_amd64.deb"

    Note: use the correct filename, as output by the "make-jpkg" command in the previous step.

  7. The Oracle JDK should now be installed. You may now optionally delete both the Oracle JDK installer file and the package that you built from it:

    rm jdk-8u121-linux-x64.tar.gz oracle-java8-jdk_8u121_amd64.deb

    Note: use the correct filenames, as downloaded/created.

Installing Oracle JDK 8 on Ubuntu for BlueJ 4.1.4 and earlier

  1. Open the Terminal application. You will need to type several commands into the Terminal window. To begin, add the "webupd8" repository to your system's repositories:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java

    You may be prompted for your password again; you will also be presented with a long notice, which you should read before pressing Enter to continue.

  2. Now enter the following commands to install the Oracle JDK:

    sudo apt update; sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer

    You will again be presented with information and prompted; press Enter to continue with the installation.

    At this stage, you will be presented with a prompt asking if you agree to the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement. You should read this agreement and choose whether or not to accept it. (If you do not accept the agreement, you cannot install the Oracle JDK).

  3. The installer will then download the Oracle JDK and install it on your system. Once it has completed, you are ready to install BlueJ as per the instructions above.

Support

Please see the support links on the main page.