[prog] Java and Linux

Akkana Peck akkana at shallowsky.com
Sat Jul 12 03:19:02 UTC 2008


Julie Hill writes:
> I'm a Java developer and I agree - Sun JDK - that was the key
> difference for me on Linux. I've had bad experiences using the
> distro-packaged Java and various Java apps, and once I abandoned those
> and started downloading and installing my own stuff, everything worked
> great from then on (especially Eclipse and Tomcat).

I'm not really a Java developer -- I just dabble in the occasional
applet or class -- but I've had the same experience. The Free distro
stuff never seems to work right, while the Sun JDK does (once I've
spent the time moving things around and making symlinks because it
never installs to a standard place).

And a big advantage of it not installing to standard places is that
I can just stick it in my home directory, where it remains through
any distro upgrades I do. I put the browser plug-in in my
~/.mozilla/plug-ins rather than the system location for the same
reason -- it works through upgrades or if I reboot into a different
distro.

> But don't get me
> wrong, I sincerely don't mean to bash the distros and their way of
> packaging Java things because I know they've had legitimate reasons

I think a lot of the problem is Sun's control over their version of
Java, which didn't have a license that let distros distribute it. (Did I
see a news item recently that it's finally going to be really Free?)
So the folks working on making a truly-free Java keep working hard,
and the distros offer that and also try to offer scripts that can go
and get a JDK from Sun ... but those are both really hard problems.
All those folks are doing good work ... but for now, it ends up
being easier to get the JDK from Sun.

	...Akkana


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