Java problem

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 28 December 2007, Craig White wrote:
>On Fri, 2007-12-28 at 21:37 -0500, Gene Heskett wrote:
>> On Friday 28 December 2007, Les Mikesell wrote:
>> >Cameron Simpson wrote:
>> >>>>> Hi
>> >>>>> I installed the jre from the file jre-6u3-linux-i586-rpm.bin and it
>> >>>>> give me done with no prob , but there is no java file in /usr/bin/ ,
>> >>>>> can any one suggest some thing about that ?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ----
>> >>>> look in /usr/java
>> >>>>
>> >>>> if you know what you want, you can create a symbolic link in /usr/bin
>> >>>> but that should never be necessary.
>> >>>
>> >>> It's too bad that RedHat and Sun can't agree on where java should
>> >>> live.
>> >>
>> >> It's a third party RPM!
>> >> Of course it should install out of the way!
>> >> That way you can use Sun's RPM or another RPM, or both!
>> >>
>> >>> For earlier versions of fedora, jpackage.org had a way to fix this
>> >>> breakage, but they seem to have stopped at FC6.
>> >>
>> >> Maybe there should be something in /etc/alternatives...
>> >
>> >Or maybe no one should have ever shipped an imitation java that doesn't
>> >meet the spec and called it java in the first place.
>>
>> +5 at least, Les.
>
>----
>I can't see any reason why you should have more than 1 vote

Which you usually discount anyway, based on my Senior Citizen discount status 
or whatever..  So I vote early and often to compensate. :)

>Of course the issue is and has always been Sun's restrictive licensing
>and if it weren't for the 'imitation java' as you call it, Sun might
>never have decided to migrate Java to GPL...but they still aren't
>there...
>
>from my installation of jdk-1.6.0.0.3 under LICENSE...
>
>3. RESTRICTIONS. Software is confidential and copyrighted.
>Title to Software and all associated intellectual property
>rights is retained by Sun and/or its licensors. Unless
>enforcement is prohibited by applicable law, you may not
>modify, decompile, or reverse engineer Software. You
>acknowledge that Licensed Software is not designed or
>intended for use in the design, construction, operation or
>maintenance of any nuclear facility. Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>disclaims any express or implied warranty of fitness for
>such uses. No right, title or interest in or to any
>trademark, service mark, logo or trade name of Sun or its
>licensors is granted under this Agreement. Additional
>restrictions for developers and/or publishers licenses are
>set forth in the Supplemental License Terms.
>
>Thus with those restrictions, there is no way that Fedora or Red Hat
>would ever distribute it. Thus without the 'imitation java' (as you call
>it), there wouldn't be a fully functioning OpenOffice.org, and no
>Docbook XSL, no Tomcat, no Eclipse, etc.
>
>Thus with your logic, people would logically go to another distro that
>either embraces restrictive licensed software or pisses on restrictive
>licensing.
>
>So while it may feel useful to bemoan the 'imitation java' aka, GCJ
>version, it provides most of the functionality...and last I checked,
>even the Sun Java '64' couldn't run applets.
>
>Craig

You should know by now that I'm pro open src, and have been since forever it 
seems.  But, if the people who write this stuff can use it in good 
conscience, then it doesn't bither me a bot to go download java from the real 
source.  It used to be blackdowns version that was the defacto std but it 
appears Sun has elbowed them out of the picture, mainly I believe by way of 
the free OpenOffice.org offering, the camels nose in the tent if you will.  

In this case, its a whatever works reliably, we'll use it.  Without feeling 
like I should go and have my mouth warshed out with some of Grandma's good 
old Lye soap.

If IcedTea or whatever they want to call it, could do what was requested, then 
more power to the coders that adapted it.  But it more often than not 
doesn't, and rather than filing bz's by the hundreds, we just go get what 
works, its far easier than filing a bz in terms of effort required.  Given 
the time & effort to go get the real thing, that should send the message that 
bz is still, although its gotten easier, a PITA to use.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
What is research but a blind date with knowledge?
		-- Will Harvey