In http://wiki.debian.org/Java there is a link to a helper to generate debian packages from upstream tarballs.
This is maybe the best answer: generating a package each time the people at Oracle generate a new version, but I prefer a different one: having a package with scripts to do the tedious task of installing from a tar.gz.
This is why I have generated a package that does not contain the java framework, but which tells the system just the contrary.
In this way I can upgrade just by manually downloading the tar.gz and running an script.
I know that the package and the script can be improved, but for me is more than enough. It works in i386 and amd64.
If you wanna try it you can download it from
http://babel.ls.fi.upm.es/~vpablos/others/packages/debian/
it's funny that while googling one of the first results is this page
– seler – 2011-12-15T22:04:49.003SU indexes quickly! :D – Garrett – 2011-12-15T22:14:03.307