I have mac os x 10.6.8. The system preferences doesn't show java at all. How can I install java please?

Assuming you have installed the latest Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 17, which can be checked by Software Update, then

Open Safari and in Safari Preferences, Security panel, select Allow Java.

That should do it.

You're mistaking Java (a programming language) for JavaScript (a, well, a programming language of sorts, but another one...).

JavaScript is useful to display interactive (so-called "dynamic") content in Web pages.

Java is used in a wide variety of applications, some of them entirely written with it, and basically serves as a way of painting interfaces and applications that are called cross-platform, because they can easily be ported from, say, Mac OS X to Windows. It was developped with the "write once, run anywhere" motto in mind.

Now, this said, you can always visit Oracle's website (it's the company that now develops and maintains Java) to download the latest version of their JRE (Java Runtime Environment), which is the only thing you need on your Mac to run Java applications and applets (small windows), unless you're a developper yourself, in which case I pretty much wasted my time explaining what Java was... 😁

Go there, download and install the latest version of Java, then use Software Update on a regular basis to keep it up-to-date.

In the Terminal application, type

java -version

and press enter

it should return

java version "1.6.0_65"

From what you have said I expect you have it, so open Java Preferences (found in Application/Utilities)

to make sure those entries are selected to be on.

FrenchToast , Oracle does not support Java for Mac 10.6 only Apple does, so to obtain Java for 10.6 it is done via software update from Apple not Oracle.

Through Apple, Oracle does provide an up-to-date JRE for SL users who don't already have Java on their Mac, for some reason or another. Once you have it installed on your machine, then you can keep it up-to-date with Software Update. Not supporting an app or platform doesn't mean it has ceased to be developped.

Let's see if the OP does have Java installed and enabled on his Mac.

Don't change your story now. You did not say through Apple, you first gave a link to this site,

http://www.java.com/en/download/apple.jsp

You said, "Go there and download the latest version of Java"

that plainly says,

"Mac OS X Version 10.6 and below

Use Software Update available on the Apple menu to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java 6 for your Mac."

This corroborates me saying that Java for Mac OS 10.6 is done through Software Update, no where else.

If any Mac OS 10.6 user does not have Java on their Mac, they get it from Apple just as the link you provided shows it is from Apple. Not Oracle. You have provided the evidence that plainly contradicts yourself.

This is your second link that is to Apple.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1573

Just to go over this again. Software Update not only updates Java to the latest, but if Java does not exist at all, SU will install it from scratch. And in doing so will be the latest version.

Providing a link to Oracle's site is useless information that does not get Java installed on a Mac running 10.6.

Message was edited by: roam

Wow, is it the heat talking, what with this being a hot spring Down Under...? 😁

Relax, man, what you say is (mostly) true, except for the part where you say that, Java being absent on a Mac running SL, Software Update will install it from scratch. That's not going to happen, because Apple only pushes updates for software already installed in any given machine.

Since Lion, Java is "optional", but there have been cases where Mac users running Snow Leopard found their machine had "lost" Java (or some of its components) after a software update.

KB here.

I'll say it for the third time. For 10.6 Apple will install Java. It is not obtainable from Oracle who no longer support 10.6. They say as much.

Oracle do support 10.7 and higher, but this topic is about 10.6. The KB article you link has no relevance as far as I can see. That is not about Apple disabling Java in Safari. Don't get confused by that, for it is a seperate issue to my point which is how does one obtain Java for Mac 10.6. This is the question. One obtains Java for Mac 10.6. from Apple not Oracle. This is the third time I have said said this. You may not like being corrected but some time you have to accept the facts.

I said in my first repsonse to you,

"FrenchToast , Oracle does not support Java for Mac 10.6 only Apple does, so to obtain Java for 10.6 it is done via software update from Apple not Oracle."

and aint that the truth brother?

I know from brief experience that you love having the last word, even when you are wrong, so go on, have the last word.

Word... Brutha... 😎

(Infuriating, ain't it? Yeah, I know, I'm a pest)

(Oh, and you're wrong, one more time: completely uninstall--at your own risk--Java from your SL machine, then wait until Software Update presents you with an upgrade)

(Yawn... Wait some more...)

(Yawn... Yeah, I know, I'm a pest)

Start with the 10.6.8 COMBO. Then, check to see which JRE's installed. If none, then try Update 17.