Re: New work on java-package
To build upon several threads regarding java-package, I've played with
it on my side with the hope it could find his way back in debian (I
too need clean installs of Oracle java on debian, should it only be
because it's Oracle one and companies/people don't want to hear about
subtle differences, they want the one they used to use, the
one everybody use, the one they download and use on their windows, ...)
I put my fork on github for the moment :
https://github.com/cedricpineau/java-package
It consists of :
- last codebase of java-package (0.42)
- complete removal of previously supported jvm (blackdown, ibm, sun,
etc), to refocus the tool on tested and used contents
- addition of 32bits and 64bits Oracle 7 (jdk, jre, javadoc), with
iceweasel and chromium as supported navigators so far.
Do you, debian developpers and java-package authors, think this
"trimmed and renewed" version could be a new start for java-package ?
Is it desirable for debian to offer a tool that ease the use of non
free software like Oracle JVM ?
(http://lists.debian.org/debian-java/2011/09/msg00012.html)
Is it acceptable to keep the name but remove previous content, the way
I did it ?
Eventually, would someone be interested to sponsor me on this package
as I volunteer to keep working on it (java6, ..) ?
Best wishes to all, thanks for your advices.
--
Cédric
Cédric and Debian Java,
What a funny bit of timing! After a few years away from the project, I
have resumed using Debian for my Java development, and ran into issues
that made me want to start maintaining java-package again.
For those who don't know or remember me, I used to maintain java-package
(and quite a few others) for this team from 2004-2007. When my
children were born and I started my own company, my discretionary time
severely reduced, so I had to put my Open Source work for Debian on hold.
At DebConf 2006 when Mark Shuttleworth and Simon Phipps (of Sun
Microsystems at the time) announced the DLJ license for Java, many of us
were elated, since it would now finally be possible to have a full
JRE/JDK readily installable from the Debian non-free repository. Once
Java 5 and 6 were available via that route, java-package lost its purpose.
Then Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, and in Fall 2011 they decided to do
away with the DLJ. Honestly, I did not think it was that big of an
issue, since I was hearing such great stuff about OpenJDK.
However, as someone who makes a living actually writing applications and
systems in Java, I can tell you that OpenJDK is not sufficient for all
Java development and usage at this time. There are cases where
performance is critical that OpenJDK has yet to measure up to the Oracle
JDK, and when you talk about desktop applications and applets, the
disparity between the two is considerable.
For example, JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA, one of the main IDEs for Java
development, still doesn't endorse the use of OpenJDK. If you download
IDEA and launch it via a terminal, you will see the following warning:
~$ ./idea-IC-111.277/bin/idea.sh
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.11pre) (6b24~pre2-1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.0-b12, mixed mode)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.0-b12, mixed mode)
WARNING: You are launching IDE using OpenJDK Java runtime.
THIS IS STRICTLY UNSUPPORTED DUE TO KNOWN PERFORMANCE AND
GRAPHICS PROBLEMS!
NOTE: If you have both Oracle (Sun) JDK and OpenJDK installed
please validate either IDEA_JDK, JDK_HOME, or JAVA_HOME
environment variable points to valid Oracle (Sun) JDK installation.
See http://ow.ly/6TuKQ for more info on switching default JDK
Having been away for a few years, I need to come up to speed on the
changes to packaging policy and the workflow for package development
with the new Git repository, etc., but I'm sure it'll come back to me
quickly, like riding a bicycle. :-)
Regards,
--
Barry Hawkins
All Things Computed
email: barry@alltc.com
twitter: barryhawkins
blog: http://barryhawkins.com/blog
site: http://alltc.com
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