Sun JRE is available in the non-free repository. You need to update your repositories configuration file (/etc/apt/sources.list).
Add the following line:
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
Update apt with apt-get update command and you’re ready to install the JRE.
$ apt-get install sun-java5-jre
Check your java binary:
$ java -version
java version “1.5.0_14″
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_14-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) [...]

apticron is a shell script that send you an email report when new packages are available on your debian server.
Install apticron
As root, do:
apt-get install apticron
apticron configuration via /etc/apticron/apticron.conf
To receive reports on your email change the EMAIL variable in the configuration file. By default, reports are sent to the root user.
EMAIL=”root” -> EMAIL=”you@domain.com”
Reports received
Now apticron will [...]