proposed debian policy for java

Wed Jul 7 06:17:00 GMT 1999

On Tuesday 6 July 1999, at 15 h 55, the keyboard of Per Bothner 
<per@bothner.com> wrote:
> Your document uses the phrase "Java compiler" to mean "a program that
> translates Java source code into .class files". There are other kinds
> of compiler, specifically ones that compile to native code (C,
> assembler, or machine code).

I know but, for the purpose of this policy, I do not see the difference? 
> Egcs and Gcc 2.95 includes a free Java compiler. It can produce
> either native code or machine code. The command `gcj -C' should be
> a drop-in replacement for `javac' in most Makefiles. (However, Gcj
> does not yet handle inner classes.) See http://sourceware.cygnus.com/java

I wasnt' even aware of it. I'll try it. Thanks for the tip.
> The packages I maintain (see http://sourceware.cygnus.com/kawa/api/ )
> are currently installed in /usr/share/java directly (assuming --prefix
> is /usr). Personally, I prefer to avoid extra levels of directory
> nesting, unless they add useful organization. I don't understand
> why you want to put classes in a `repository' sub-directory - though
> my next paragraph may provide one justification.

It is not an absolute necessity, since a name clash between a jar and the top 
of a tree (like com or gnu) is unlikely.
> You should perhaps clarify that Java *implementations* should *not*
> install classes directly under /usr/share/java/repository (or
> /usr/share/java), because they might provide different (conflicting)
> implementations of (say) java.lang.Class.

You mean base classes? OK, the warning was not explicit.
> either a .zip/.jar file, or a subdirectory. For example, the run-time
> classes associated with Kaffe could go in /usr/share/java/kaffe.zip or
> in /usr/share/java/kaffe/java/lang/....

I rather thought of /usr/share/kaffe/classes.jar since the base classes are 
typically very VM-dependant.
> missing features or optimizing for a specific VM), they should go in
> the implementatation-specific sub-directory. Thus package gnu.xxx
> could install portable classes in /usr/share/java/repository/gnu/xxx,
> but classes specific to Kaffe in /usr/share/java/kaffe/gnu/xxx.

I get the idea. I'll study it. Thanks for the details.