On Sat, Dec 18, 2004 at 05:10:22PM -0500, Tong wrote: > Thanks for the input. Yeah, I meant to try the 'free-java-sdk' since it is > default in Debian Testing. But looking up Debian Java faq, I noticed that > things are more complicated than that. More sdk/jvm are available, and I > can't tell which one is better than others by just reading the faq.
Without any shadow of a doubt the blackdown packages are "better" than free-java-sdk if you want a functioning java system. If you require a free-software java system, go for free-java-sdk - but don't be surprised when it doesn't run your java programs. > Ok, let's forget the debian java packages and consider a simple question: > I'm not just trying to compile a couple of small java programs. I want to > use Java. Nowadays, many utilities are released in Java. Big monsters that > comes to my mind are, eclips, jbuilder, together, IBM db2 control center, > etc. What would be the best/safest java sdk package to use for such case, > and all those ready built .jar files? The blackdown or the sun java systems should work with these. If you can get any of them to run with free-java-sdk, I am surprised, amazed and impressed. If you want to get your java programs running and get your work done, install blackdown java. If have ethical objections to non-free software, or you want to support the development of free-software java systems, install free-java-sdk. Or you can install both (I don't think they conflict). You said "I want to use java", so install the blackdown j2re-1.4 and j2sdk-1.4 packages. http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-java-faq/ch11.html The sun system is a reasonable alternative, but if I understand correctly it's essentially the same as the blackdown system anyway, blackdown port java to linux for Sun (and us). And it's not packaged for debian, so it will be a pain to install. The ibm system apparently doesn't support all of java 2. Sam -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
