Updating Java to latest version on Ubuntu

In order to update to the latest java version on Ubuntu you need to download the latest tar ball from the Java website www.java.com

Unzip this using the command:

tar zxvf jdk-8u66-linux-x64.tar.gz -C /usr/java

Next tell the system that there is a new java version:

update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/usr/java/jre1.8.0_66/bin/java" 1

Now set this JDK/JRE as default:

update-alternatives --set java /usr/java/jre1.8.0_66/bin/java

Now check the version:

java -version