[CLUE-Tech] Java and Debian

[Matt Gushee]

On Tue, Jul 22, 2003 at 09:52:27PM -0600, Timothy C. Klein wrote:
> 
> I recently upgraded my wife's machine on Debian testing.  Java was
> working before (she needs it for Metro's web page, and she is seriously
> addicted to those java applet games on www.popcap.com, so if I don't get
> it working I am in biiiiig trouble :-).
> 
> After the upgrade, Java has failed, it no longer seems to realize I have
> a plugin. So I reinstall java fron Sun, desperately, and re-copy the
> plugin that comes with the download from sun. No help.
> 
> My question is, do any fellow Debian users have a painless way of
> getting java to work in Debian?  Since the java support is truly
> bad in Debian,

I don't think this is a Debian-specific issue. My understanding is that
Sun's license for the Java2 platform:

  a) does not qualify as a free software license; and
  
  b) effectively prohibits redistribution (well, presumably you can
     pay some kind of hefty license fee for redistribution rights, but
     that wouldn't work very well for a community-based Linux distro).

Meanwhile, since Sun started releasing Java for Linux, the motivation to
develop an alternate implementation was greatly reduced. I'm not sure
whether it's even really happening any more.

My solution is that I simply don't install anything Java from Debian,
ever. I just install the latest stable version from Sun. Maybe there's
a better solution, but I haven't heard it.

The only qualification I'd add to that is that I don't care about
applets; as a sometime Java developer, my main priority is to be able to
run various current Java packages (server apps or GUI, mainly). Applets
are a somewhat different story: many applets are still written for Java
1.1.x, because that's the version supported by browser JVMs; Java2
applets require a special plugin. So in your case, it could be a
question of maintaining backwards compatibility (though I don't know why
that would be a problem with the Debian packages). Do you happen to know
which Java version your wife's Web sites use?

> I have to get it from Sun or IBM.  But then it is not a
> part of the deb life-cycle, so it always breaks like this after a few
> months.

I don't understand that. If you never install the Debian Java packages,
only third-party ones, there's no reason why upgrading your distro
should have any effect. Or is it because you try to install Debian's
Java packages, when you already have another Java distribution
installed?

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee at havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)