I am just posting this because I ran into a simple problem whilst installing the geonetwork application on a Linux (fedora 3) based OS.
The problem was this:
When I tried to invoke the java -jar geonetwork install command from bash I could not launch the installer. I realized after much deliberation that the Java version jdk1.5 path was not set. I am not sure if anyone has run into this problem before but I know that it is has been a common problem with other people using other .jar based installers.
The solution:
Make sure you specify the path when trying to install. The proper way to do this is to use a command that explicitly states where java is installed.
For instance if java is installed in the directory /usr/local/jre1.5.0_07 then the command would look like this in Linux:
[root@anonymised.com]# /usr/local/jre1.5.0_07/bin/java -jar /home/postgres/geonetwork-intermap-2.0.2-installer.jar
note: it is also a good idea to explicitly state where the geonetwork .jar file is located on your system as well
Mike