From owner-freebsd-ports  Tue Dec 29 22:45:55 1998
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG>
Received: (from majordom@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id WAA10502
          for freebsd-ports-outgoing; Tue, 29 Dec 1998 22:45:55 -0800 (PST)
          (envelope-from owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG)
Received: from osprey.grizzly.com (osprey.grizzly.com [209.133.20.178])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA10487;
          Tue, 29 Dec 1998 22:45:51 -0800 (PST)
          (envelope-from markd@Grizzly.COM)
Received: (from markd@localhost)
	by osprey.grizzly.com (8.8.8/8.8.5) id WAA01885;
	Tue, 29 Dec 1998 22:44:08 -0800 (PST)
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 22:44:08 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199812300644.WAA01885@osprey.grizzly.com>
X-Authentication-Warning: osprey.grizzly.com: markd set sender to markd@grizzly.com using -f
From: Mark Diekhans <markd@Grizzly.COM>
To: girgen@partitur.se
CC: freebsd-java@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG
In-reply-to: <3689A1DB.3B844BF@partitur.se> (message from Palle Girgensohn on
	Wed, 30 Dec 1998 04:45:31 +0100)
Subject: Re: Porting java stuff? Proposal?
References:  <3689A1DB.3B844BF@partitur.se>
Sender: owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG
Precedence: bulk
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org


Great your doing the work on the JSDK port; FreeBSD could end up an ideal
environment for server-side java applications (which happens to be one of the
things I do).

This design looks great from the BSD perspective. However the problem with a
non-standard layout for Java software is it now requires modifying software
obtained from other sources to run on BSD.  Most java software requires one to
set an environment variable per dependency such as JAVA_HOME that point to
desired packages and come with install instructions or scripts.  FreeBSD not
becomes a special case to port to, when no port should be required.

An additional advantage with the defacto java software structure is that it
easily allows for multiple versions of the same package to be installed.  This
is critical in a world where the software is changing so quickly.  I generally
end up with two different version of swing installed on my systems.

I fear that an approach like this would give freebsd a bad reputation
in the java world; and we all know how hard it is to shake a  bad reputation.

Mark


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-ports" in the body of the message