3 examples for update-alternatives

  # Installing java alternatives.
# Arguments are update-alternatives link name path priority
# link = the generic link which should be managed by alternatives.
# name = the name of the alternative same as the link in created in the alternatives folder(/etc/alternatives/)
# path = the alternative path the alternative should point to
sudo update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/usr/local/java/jdk1.7.0_45/jre/bin/java" 1
        

  # Add a new alternative for an already installed program. Identical syntax to adding a new one,
# just provide the path to the other alternative as the second-to-last argument, with a different priority number.
sudo update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/usr/local/my-other-jdk/java" 2
        

  # Select default browser interactively from list of possibilities
update-alternatives --config x-www-browser