building java packages

[John Leuner <jewel@pixie.co.za>]

I have started building some java .debs and immediately run into some
problems:

1. what do I depend on to have a 'javac' installed ?
2. when I want to compile something with a line like:
	javac -classpath /some/dir:/some/other/dir some_java_files

this won't work because the classpath also needs to include the class
libraries. These will change depending on what VM is installed, so how do
I know where they are?

3. similarly, what do I depend on for a 'jar' tool? I'm thinking that
fastjar may be best?

4. The current scheme where library .jars go into
/usr/share/java/[repository], doesn't seem to take into account
versioning. There is also no mention of versioning in the Java policy for
/usr/share/java/repository files.

Just like .so shared libraries it is very important that libraries
(and programs) using a common namespace use versions to prevent breakages
when things change.

John Leuner