Re: Kaffe 1.0 beta debian package...
<aqy6633@acf5.nyu.edu> (Alex Yukhimets) writes:
> > 1) It's wrong, lots of code runs under Kaffe, though maybe not yours
>
> If you say it you probably know. But I really cannot imagine it is true...
> Very simple gui with a couple of buttons, choices and text fields just
> don't work. Choice items are not loaded (or not displayed), etc.
The AWT is the most poorly documented part of the Java API and the one the
most rife with race conditions and interactions between objects. When I
experimented with Kaffe it was 0.7 or 0.8 and the Biss-AWT shipped separately.
I ran into several incompatibilities, all of which I tracked down to race
conditions or ordering inconsistencies in the Biss-AWT. In every case it was
arguably compliant with the spec, it just differed from the JDK AWT.
>From what I read on the web site work has advantced substantially since then.
> > 2) This isn't what Experimental is for. There's no prohibition against alpha
> > or beta software in the main distribution. There are plenty of other
> > packages of software still under development in the distribution.
> >
> > Experimental is for when you want to release a new version of a package that
> > introduces severe changes that could break a working system. The increasing
> > tendency to put everything in Experimental because the package might (horrors)
> > have a bug in it is silly and counterproductive.
>
> It depends. You wouldn't put very early and buggy version of egcs into the
> main distribution, would you? Just innocent upgrade to not working Java
> compiler or JVM could break a lot of things. Production code suddenly stops
> working, ... Horrors. At least for me.
> I think you should realize that people use Debian not only as a hobby but for
> production.
An excellent example. If this hypothetical version of "egcs" was a new version
of a working "egcs" package which risked breaking things then yes it would go
in Experimental. That's exactly what I described.
However if the "egcs" package just conflict/replaced a more stable recommended
"gcc" package it would go in `extra'. Ideally it could install non-conflicting
files so it could be installed alongside the stable `gcc' package.
Here's the description of `extra' where such a hypothetical `egcs' package
would go:
`extra'
This contains packages that conflict with others with higher
priorities, or are only likely to be useful if you already know
what they are or have specialised requirements.
I'm not sure whether Kaffe belongs in `extra' or `optional' but it certainly
doesn't belong in `experimental'.
greg
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