Do anyone need a Java extension?

[helander]

I have created an extension that contains the Apache Harmony JDK+JRE. Before I submit it to the TC repo, I would like to understand if there is any need for this extension within the community. It's rather big (+50MB) compared to the majority of existing extensions in the repo, and if no one is interested we should not waste repo space and bandwidth.
Further, i would like to know what people would be using it for so that i can tailor the packaging to these needs.

/Lars

[gerald_clark]

I would suggest separating the JRE and the JDK.

[helander]

That was my first thought, but when I realized that the JRE was 45MB and the JDK 53MB, it was not so obvious any longer. However it is still an option .

One fairly simple thing to do is to split the class library into smaller pieces, e.g. put awt and swing classes in a separate extension in case some people only use Java in non-GUI environments (or in pure SWT environments). But before entering that path I would like to know if anyone would benefit from that.

/Lars

[Pats]

Presently I use RH9 to develop threaded apps in Java.
Secondly many of us here have to switch either to XP or RH or Knoppix for our need of online live charts on net.
So it will be a welcome step, if you make this Java Ext available in  the repo (either JRE+JDK or in seaparately).
Sooner or later the needy ones will start exploring it.
Thnks for yr efforts !
~ Pats

[curaga]

While it seems to be Java 5-compatible, there's no java extension currently - thus it would be good to have.

[bmarkus]

While at the moment I do not need Java, time to time it is required to test applications. I have several multiplatform clients written in Java used in corporate environment.

[Magil]

I use Java + Tomcat on TCL, an extension should be awesome. Also meybe it would be smaller to use openjdk, I havent tried this myself yet, as size isnt that importent for me, just a thought.

[helander]

So far what I have seen openjdk becomes bigger than harmony.

I think I have tried most, if not all, available Java implementations that are "free" or close to "free". The only one that I have been able to build (and that works once being built) is harmony. Icedtea, is is probably the most promising alternative since it tries to address all the "non-free" issues that openjdk has, but builds on openjdk. The problem at this point is that I experience a number of build problems with icedtea.

I will probably continue (if time allows) to get a working icedtea build, but until that happens, I can make harmony available to the community.

/Lars

[Magil]

Hey Lars, I would very musch like to try your version as mine takes up 100mb. Size isnt that important for me, but a smaller build would boot a lot faster. Great work!

[helander]

Hey Lars, I would very musch like to try your version as mine takes up 100mb. Size isnt that important for me, but a smaller build would boot a lot faster. Great work!

Magil,

Size should not affect the boot time, unless you are copying package contents to RWM. Boot time is affected by number of files in the extension and not the size.

/Lars

[helander]

I have managed to build openjdk-7 and it seems to work fine (ran a short session with eclipse). The sizes are currently:

JDK 76 MB
JRE 38 MB

I will look into how these might be split in multiple extensions.

/Lars

[^thehatsrule^]

Wouldn't version 6 be more desired at this time, since v7 is still under development (afaik)?

[helander]

Wouldn't version 6 be more desired at this time, since v7 is still under development (afaik)?

Yes, it would. However the version 6 build failed while the version 7 built without problems. My plan is to submit version 7 soon (within a day or two) and then try to get the version 6 to build without failure. If I get version 6 to build I plan to submit that too. Users would then be able to either pick openjdk-6 or openjdk-7.


Currently I have the following extensions for openjdk-7

openjdk-7-jdk.tcz                13 Mbyte
openjdk-7-jre.tcz                34 Mbyte
openjdk-7-jdk-misc.tcz        24 MByte
openjdk-7-jre-server.tcz        4 Mbyte

openjdk-7-jre-server is only needed if the jvm is to run in server mode.
openjdk-7-jdk-misc contains man pages, samples and demos (stuff not required at run-time)
openjdk-7-jdk depends on openjdk-7-jre

/Lars