On Mon, Aug 11, 2003 at 04:40:11PM -0400, Michael R Head wrote: > On Mon, 2003-08-11 at 16:18, Matt Zimmerman wrote: > > This is what update-alternatives does. > > I actually use update-alternatives to point to > /usr/local/lib/j2sdk/bin/java which is a symlink to j2sdk1.4.2 or > whatever the latest I have installed is.
Which is, of course, one of the ways in which alternatives are intended to be used. > That said, using the JAVA_HOME variable (if it is set) allow a user on > the system to easily select which JDK to use. Now my users can just do > export JAVA_HOME=/home/me/my_own_special_jdk, and type 'java -version' > and have it work right. Which is something that Unix users have been able to do since the dawn of time, in a more generic way, with a different environment variable (namely PATH). > As far as I know, alternatives can only be set by the system administrator > (and anyway, they certainly don't allow for multiple environments to test > a package against all the different JDKs). I don't follow. To use a package with a particular JDK, you point it to that particular JDK. alternatives provide a list of available JDKs, as well as a default for the system. > Of course, if you want all that support anyway, you might as well fiddle > with the PATH and set it to whichever java home directory you want. But > the point remains that alternatives isn't a perfect solution for the > multiple-(possibly-user-installed)-jdk problem. What do is missing that can't be addressed by alternatives and PATH? -- - mdz -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
