Re: On the use of pre-compiled classes in packages

[Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@pasteur.fr>]

On Monday 6 December 1999, at 5 h 47, the keyboard of Julio Maia 
<julio@pobox.com> wrote:

> I'd like to have a direction to follow regarding the use of pre-compiled 
> classes in Debian packages. In other words, is really necessary to compile 
> all the classes that go inside a Debian package, 

IMHO, it is not a Java-specific issue and I would post it on debian-project. Would you accept in 'main' (no problem if it goes into non-free) a package written in C which uses a '.o' or '.a' that you cannot recompile even if you try?

I don't find a mention of this problem in the Policy, but I assume it is because it is obvious: free software means the ability to recompile yourself on a Debian box (even if you finally choose to use the jar from the upstream author).