Re: Java software comes bundled with its own jars.
On Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 01:17:49AM +0100, Ahmed wrote:
> I would like to package Apache Jakarta/XML software.
> Of course, I have got to do it from sources, either releases or CVS.
>
> Surprise... They are putting jars in CVS!
>
> These jars are not only needed to build but also to run.
>
> If you install some of the software, you'll find your self installing
> multiple ant, xalan, xerces, etc jars.
Build against the Debian packaged versions of these libraries, and depend on
them for runtime use. Leave them in the upstream tarball if they are there;
they will take up some space, but it is better to have pristine upstream
source.
> My question is:
> Is this a general Java tradeoff or just a kinda laziness?
It is to help users who build from source so that they do not have to manage
the dependencies. The fact that compiled java code is a suitable
distribution format makes it possible to use jars for this purpose.
> I am new to Java. I have a C/CVS/Autotools background.
> Each Gnome application using XML is not carrying its own version of
> libxml.
No, but many C programs do this. rrdtool, for example, includes cgilib,
libpng, libgd and zlib so that users don't need to [be able to] build and
install them in order to use the software. You probably realize the
disadvantages of doing this.
My advice, when dealing with upstreams who do this, is to distribute only
their source code, and leave it to distributors to manage dependencies.
Sometimes they listen, and sometimes they do not. Often they must support
distributors which do not provide as much bundled software as Debian. :-)
--
- mdz
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