Re: Bug#156407: ITP: free-java-sdk -- Complete Java SDK environment consising of free Java tools
> On 12 Aug 2002, Grzegorz Prokopski wrote:
>> W li=B6cie z pon, 12-08-2002, godz. 18:13, Adam Heath pisze:
>>> Er, you say free, but are restricting me to only use what is listed in the
>>> depends.
>
> So, what about kaffe? What about gcj? Why are you saying that sable is
> better than these others?
>
> Debian should not be a popularity contest.
If that _weren't_ true, then why can I do
apt-get install popularity-contest
???
But seriously, the point of this seems to be to build a "metapackage" that
integrates together a bunch of the Java tools into a quasi-coherent whole, so
that someone could, at least, select "free-java-sdk" and watch a reasonably
suitable set of dependancies appear that make it reasonable to do some Java
development.
It might well be that with a _very_ little work, things could be made suitable
for gcj, kaffe, and other free Java tools to enter into the dependancies.
Maybe the present "restriction" is merely a bug, which may be fixed.
I think it would be nice to see the package created, improved, fixed, and
overall "made useful." If it doesn't support every "free JVM" on day 1, I
can't call that a _fatal_ flaw.
What is a pretty fatal flaw, at this point, is that there are major Java
packages like Apache Axis, Jakarta, and chunks of the xml.apache.org stuff
that, despite being "free," can't run on free software-based systems.
Getting a larger set of interlinked Java packages working in "Debian main" may
make the issues clearer, and draw more attention to them.
--
(reverse (concatenate 'string "moc.enworbbc@" "sirhc"))
http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/linuxdistributions.html
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not
bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
-- Mark Twain
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