I'm on 14.04 and have the ppa Java 8 installer running on the box. It's okay to have it to install Java 8 in general, but in detail it has the flaw (at least in the way I use it) that it installs a Java browser plugin (Yuck!) and integrates it into Firefox via update-alterantives.
I use this ppa:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/java/ubuntu trusty main
Installing Java I do this straight forward:
$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
...
Oracle JDK 8 installed
update-alternatives: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so to provide /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so (mozilla-javaplugin.so) in auto mode
Oracle JRE 8 browser plugin installed
I don't want such a browser plugin. No use of it at all and I find it even disgusting to have it touching my browser configuration. I know this is entirely subjective so I would just wish for myself that about this there would be a configuration optiona available ;).
Anyway I have not found such one trying to handle this. Alternatives do not allow me to disable them. It even re-creates symbolic links when I remove them by hand:
$ sudo unlink /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so
Later on:
$ sudo update-alternatives --config mozilla-javaplugin.so
There is only one alternative in link group mozilla-javaplugin.so (providing /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so): /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
Nothing to configure.
update-alternatives: warning: forcing reinstallation of alternative /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so because link group mozilla-javaplugin.so is broken
Now I'm not so much into this ppa and what's with java browser plugins. So I'm asking if there is a known way to keep Java 8 but just remove the browser plugin?
/edit: Disabling the plugin via apt-get works by removing Java 8 in complete. If that's an option, the command is:
$ sudo apt-get remove oracle-java8-installer
Just noting it here for completeness and so it's clear I'm aware of this type of solution. But this is not exactly what I aim for.
