When the i686 specific version of glibc-2.2.2 is installed, the java virtual machine simply hangs when called (`java -version'). Using the "normal" glibc-2.2.2.i386 fixes this. The JDK used is jdk1.3.0_02 (latest version available from sun). The hardware is an Athlon-CPU.
Please check RELEASE-NOTES, there is a bug in Sun (and IBM) JDK, you can use a workaround export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 until JDKs are fixed.