Ah, pieces of 8, wish it WERE gold.
So this is a short story about installing Java 8 on IBM i. A quick Google search on “Install Java 8 on IBM i” takes you here: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/ Which is exciting because the big blue button says: “Download Version 8” AWESOME (well, um, not…). First you have to find the download link for IBM i which is at the bottom of the page and takes you to ESS. There, the challenge is to find the licensed program 5770JV1 (for me…). The product isn’t listed. More Googling…which finds a reference on how to find the licensed product for JAVA….
As it turns out, 5770JV1 is found as part of 5770-SS1. Select it in ESS and click “Continue” (NOT at the top of the list…click the “Continue” at the bottom of the list…). Then click “Continue” on the next page…..
to continue….
Here is where you need to understand how the “hide/show” works (“hide/show” WHAT? would be my first question but IBM assumes you know what “hide/show” does: It hides/shows details…..)
So click on “hide/show” and you should see a long list of packages which again, you need to click on “hide/show” on “5827: i7.2 B_GROUP1 v07.02.00,ENU,DVD” There you will see the two entries for Java 8 (32 and 64 bit). Select these two small files (416MB) and you’ll get a 1.8 GB download (yeah, you get the whole DVD anyway)
Once you have downloaded and mounted the DVD, go to install licensed programs and take the option to install 5770JV1 option 16 and then install 5770JV1 option 17 (you will probably need to use the “Add” option rather than finding the product/option in the list)
Make sure you install the latest PTF’s after you finish installing the licensed programs.
Now your Java is no longer in pieces…..