Hi,
Read This, http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_3_installation_notes.html
Looking through your tips - there's a better way to do Java. For a long time I did a similar process - since RH 6.2 days.
I would unpack java in /opt/blackdown make a /etc/profile.d script that set the JAVA_HOME and the path made the symlink
But just a few weeks ago, I found a much better way - it's called JPackage
JPackage is a Java ecosystem, and from what I have read since I started reading up on it, Red Hat/Fedora have some level of commitment to the JPackage project - and looking at their mailing list archives, there are a lot of familiar names from Fedora Devel on the JPackage lists.
I wrote a small tip on it myself just a few days ago -
http://mpeters.us/linux/j2sdk.php
as a revision (well, complete rewrite) to a tip I had that looked much like yours. JPackage really is the superior way to do Java on Fedora.
Browser plugin - just works
yum install jedit - just works
yum install jboss - just works
yum install jftp - just works (once you have the non-free dep installed)
yum install tomcat5 - just works - (once you have the non free dependency installed)
-- Cheap Linux CD's http://mpeters.us/linux/
