Re: [RFC] Debian Java Announcement for Sarge
Arnaud Vandyck wrote:
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Hi Debian J*v* people,
I think we have to make an announcement about debian-java in Sarge: what
is the status java in Debian, how many packages we moved to main, what
are the changes from Woody etc.
0° Introduction (I forget to make one... any idea?);
1° Status of the JVM's from Woody to Sarge;
2° Java packages (libs and apps);
3° Packages that move from contrib to main;
4° Debian Java Maintainers;
5° Future;
6° Conclusion.
Thanks for your comments about the organization of the document.
I think we can publish this mail on the wiki and work on it, then put it
in the alioth's cvs:
/cvsroot/pkg-java: create a docs dir with an announces dir, and then a
file we can call DebianJavaInSarge.txt or something.
0° Introduction
What about:
This document should give you a rough overview of what has changed
between woody and sarge with java on debian.
Most notably there are very much improved and also new free runtimes
in sarge which are capable of running several programs. Also a lot
of software got packaged and moved to the main section which indicates
that they are buildable and runnable by the free runtimes.
Another change for better support of commercial, non-free jdks the
package - java-package - is provided.
...
1° Status of the JVM's from Woody to Sarge
- new:
+ sablevm
+ jamvm
+ I think I forget some...
+ free-java-sdk
- updated:
+ gcj/gij (3.0 -> 3.3 and 3.4)
+ kaffe (1.0.5e -> 1.1.5)
- removed:
+ kissme
+ orp
Maybe split into provide JRE (jamvm, sablevm)
and JDK functionality (free-java-sdk, kaffe)
Where does gcj/gij really belong ?
2° Java packages (libs and apps)
- new:
+ antlr
+ batik
+ bcel
+ checkstyle
+ classpath
+ fop
+ gjdoc
+ mysql jdbc driver
+ freemind
+ jspwiki
+ libant (in main)
+ rhino
+ velocity
+ lot of important libs
+ lot of jakarta libs (and jakarta-commons libs)
- update:
+ ant (1.4.1 -> 1.6.2)
+ bsh (1.1alpha5 -> 1.3.0)
+ postgresql jdbc driver (7.2 -> 7.4.7)
+ tomcat4 (4.0.3 -> 4.1.31)
- removed:
+ cocoon
+ libservlet2.2 (replaced by libservlet2.3)
+ xml-soap
+ log4j (replaced by log4j1.2)
3° Packages that move from contrib to main
[snip]
34. libcommons-daemon-java
35. libpgjava
36. libmysql-java
37. velocity
These three not yet made it to main because of the freeze !
I'd like to thank the excellent work of the Free GNU/Classpath
Community on the Free VM's.
4° Debian Java Maintainers
One of the best thing we have in Debian is Alioth! Many thanks to
those who made the project possible and who maintain it.
Stefan Gybas started Debian Java Maintainers (pkg-java) on April 13,
2003 and from that time, we tried to maintain the more java packages
we can, asking developers to join the effort. The main Debian
Developers involved in Java packaging joined the project and a lot of
non Debian Developers help us a lot (20 members at the moment).
In my humble opinion, starting the project and co-maintaining the
Java packages were real improvements. We have less unmaintained
packages and they are in a better shape.
5° Future
- fix the Debian Java Policy;
Thats a must :-) We should really start discussion soon.
- update the Debian Java FAQ;
Would be good before the sarge release !
- more packages to pkg-java;
- every packages to cdbs;
- every packages to generate documentation with gjdoc, build the
classpath documentation and make the javadoc to link to the
appropriate libraries;
Yes, that should also be specified by the new policy.
- add a debian/watch file to every packages;
- fix every bugs;
OK :-)
- update our packages and clean up packages that are dead upstream;
Well this has already started (libservlet2.2-java, xml-soap, ...) - but
I think we should do that regulary. There are currently several outdated
libraries which are not really used by programs.
- more packages to main;
Thats also a must !
- help free GNU Classpath hackers;
Thats something I really have to start with the next time.
- help upstream to build really free projects;
- eclipse, tomcat5, dom4j, hibernate, spring, jonas and or jboss are
packages I'd like to see in Debian. The list of important package
could of course grow;
Well I would also like to see an new ArgoUML and also (in the future far
away) derby and geronimo.
The list is not finished, maybe this paragraph can be deleted, RFC.
This could be maybe more an "internal" list of goals.
6° Conclusion
Even if Java is not in the shape we'd like it to be in Debian at the
moment, there are a lot of work to make it fit the best we can in the
distribution.
We plan to integrate Java more and more in Debian and make it really
free.
Maybe we can add here something about free java projects:
This integration effort mainly depends on the evolving of the free java
projects like GNU classpath as the class library project and the free
runtimes like kaffe, jamvm, sablevm and the gnu java project.
If you are interested in free java you can help in several ways by
testing java programs with the free runtimes, report bugs or help out
with documentation. You are also invited to help programming in these
projects if you are also a java developer.
And also with the websites linked ....
Wolfgang
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