Does Java run on Linux?

Java was built to run everywhere and Linux is one of the platforms it has always supported. Oracle's own installation help covers Linux with both an archive file and an .rpm installer, and the Eclipse Temurin project publishes free builds as Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE and Alpine installer files.

For a home user the simplest route is the app store on your system, which lists the open source version, OpenJDK. That is the same Java underneath, it is free, and there is no Oracle licence to read.

Programs move across without changes. A Java program is a .jar file, and the .jar that ran on your Windows machine will normally run on Linux the same way. That portability is the whole reason Java exists.

The one thing that catches people is versions. A program might want Java 8, 17 or 21, and the error you get with the wrong one is unhelpful. If something refuses to start, check which version its own site asks for. Java that ran inside a web page is long gone on every system, Windows included, so old browser-based Java tools will not work anywhere.