Bernd Kreimeier Writes: > Of course, your goals might differ, and with a different > roadmap, a different policy makes sense. The question I > tried to ask when the policy proposal came up originally > was: what is your vision of "Java in Debian"? Is it just > a bunch of packages to put somewhere, a different compiler > and runtime environment to manage? Or is it an integral > part of your ideas of what free, *portable* software should > look like in 5 or 10 years?
This is a great question. And one I've been waiting to answer on this list for a long time. Thank you for giving me the perfect opportunity. The debian-java list and Debian's interaction with Java has been the only thing that has come close to pushing me away from Debian entirely. For the last 2 full years, I've been doing Java development full time. Excluding a couple months, I've done all of that development on Solaris and Linux. *MY* vision is one where a java compiler and jvm are installed by a package system, and run as part of the "default path" (e.g., there is some kind of /usr/bin/java and /usr/bin/javac). Next, I would like to see the ability to install "development" and "runtime" libraries. I do a LOT of work with servlets. So a "servlets.jar" that contained the servlet api might be good, Apache JServ would be even better. I have virtually no need for java programs most of the time. A java version of ls, find, tar, etc, would not help me at all. Something libc-like besides 'java.*' class libraries might or might not help me. (I find Sun's Java libraries, sufficient for most of my needs.) I understand how Sun's proprietary license is in very direct opposition to Debian policy. If kaffe or Japhar ever progress to something I can use, I will. (And yes, I've tried Kaffe recently and it does NOT WORK for my application.) I have finally decided that I will continue to use Debian, because of all the other reasons I have used it for years. As far as doing Java stuff. I just install all my Java utilities/libraries by hand. I mostly lurk on debian-java, because I have an interest in both. However, I have no immediate hope of those two ever meeting. If they do, great. If not, I'll continue to install the JDK and Jserv myself. ---- Cris J H
