[conspire] (forw) Re: (forw) Tidbit about the state of Java on Linux

Rick Moen rick at linuxmafia.com
Fri Aug 12 02:23:56 PDT 2011


----- Forwarded message from wood eddie <ewood111 at yahoo.com> -----

From: wood eddie <ewood111 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (forw) [conspire] Tidbit about the state of Java on Linux
To: "Rick Moen" <rick at linuxmafia.com>
Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 12:16 AM

Hi Rick:

Thanks. Search using Centos and openjdk6, found
==================================================
 http://www.geekamongus.com/2009/01/16/openjdk6-java-16x-on-centos-5x/

OpenJDK6 – Java 1.6.x on CentOS 5.x
Just a quick tip that might help out the folks needing
something better than gcj and still using an open version of
Java.

On CentOS 5.2 :

rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-2.noarch.rpm

yum install -y java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin
java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel java-1.6.0-openjdk
 
=================================================

Will I then install openjdk6 on my Centos 5.6 by type above
commands: rpm, then yum install to install this JDK ? 
Do I specify an install directory such as
/usr/openjdk6  or /opt/openjdk6 ?  

Almost forget, will openjdk6 have the jar or alt-jar utility  ? Hope can
begin to install java applications after this.


Thx, Eddie

[RM: As usual, snip where he pointlessly quotes the entire previous
thread.]

----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:19:35 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: wood eddie <ewood111 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (forw) [conspire] Tidbit about the state of Java on Linux
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting wood eddie (ewood111 at yahoo.com):

> Thanks. Search using Centos and openjdk6, found
> ==================================================
>  http://www.geekamongus.com/2009/01/16/openjdk6-java-16x-on-centos-5x/
> 
> OpenJDK6 – Java 1.6.x on CentOS 5.x
> Just a quick tip that might help out the folks needing something
> better than gcj and still using an open version of Java.

Just a point in passing:  Nobody but you can really take care of your
important task of ensuring that you're solving the right problem.  I 
have no idea why you're seeking to install supplements to OpenJDK6 from
the Fedora distribution's 'Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux' (EPEL) 
collection, or whether it's necessary or useful to do so.  Until this
moment, I'd never heard of EPEL.

Cited page appears to concern how to fetch a single RPM of (some,
unspecified) EPEL stuff from Fedora's EPEL repository on the Internet
via http fetch and then installation via /usr/bin/rpm, and then a
separate /usr/bin/yum operation to install three of ContOS's own
OpenJDK6 RPMs.  The pseudonymous author assumes the reader is running
(specifically) CentOS 5.2, which of course you are not.

Eddie, if I can make a general comment, here:  You need to (1) learn how
to administer CentOS / RHEL, and (2) need to be careful about
implementing random advice from nobody-in-particular on the Internet.

I'm not going to take the time to figure out what 'Extra Packages for
Enterprise Linux' is, what it's good for, what it's not good for, what
problems you might cause by adding those into your system, etc.  Your 
affair.


> On CentOS 5.2 :
> 
> rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-2.noarch.rpm
> 
> yum install -y java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel java-1.6.0-openjdk
>  
> =================================================
> 
> Will I then install openjdk6 on my Centos 5.6 by type above commands:
> rpm, then yum install to install this JDK ?  

Again, _you_ need to sit down and learn how to do basic CentOS
administration.  For example, you should learn about what various things
can be done using the 'yum' utility.  Extremely terse information can be
read using the 'man' (manual pages) command, e.g., by typing 'man yum'
at a shell prompt.  Among other things, that'll tell you:

  yum(8) - Linux man page

  Name

  yum - Yellowdog Updater Modified
  Synopsis

  yum [options] [command] [package ...]
  Description

  yum is an interactive, automated update program which can be used for
  maintaining systems using rpm

  command is one of:
  * install package1 [package2] [...]
  * update [package1] [package2] [...]
  * check-update
  * upgrade [package1] [package2] [...]
  * remove | erase package1 [package2] [...]
  * list [...]
  * info [...]
  * provides | whatprovides feature1 [feature2] [...]
  * clean [ packages | headers | metadata | cache | dbcache | all ]
  * makecache
  * groupinstall group1 [group2] [...]
  * groupupdate group1 [group2] [...]
  * grouplist [hidden]
  * groupremove group1 [group2] [...]
  * groupinfo group1 [...]
  * search string1 [string2] [...]
  * shell [filename]
  * resolvedep dep1 [dep2] [...]
  * localinstall rpmfile1 [rpmfile2] [...]
  * localupdate rpmfile1 [rpmfile2] [...]

  * deplist package1 [package2] [...]
  [...]

  list
     Is used to list various information about available packages; more
     complete details are available in the List Options section below.
  [...]

  yum list available [glob_exp1] [...]
  List all packages in the yum repositories available to be installed.
  [...]



So, if you want to know what openjdk-related packages are available, do:

   yum list available *openjdk*

(A 'glob' is an expression with wildcard characters such as * and ? .
That's another thing you should be learning about.)  

If you want to make sure that 'yum' has the absolutely latest
information about what packages are available in the remote repositories
it knows about (which are specified in /etc/yum.conf and the *.repo
files referenced in it), then do this first, before asking about
specific packages.

  yum clean all

Now, the machine in front of me isn't CentOS (or Fedora, or RHEL), so I
actually don't have 'yum' in front of me, and don't have yum's manpages.
(I run Debian.)  However, I do know how to use a Web browser, so I
Web-searched for 

  yum manpage

and found http://linux.die.net/man/8/yum , among other things.  That's
what I was quoting from.  Lesson:  Learn to use a search engine deftly,
and it'll answer a lot of your questions.  But you really need to be
careful about just following random advice from search results.

Speaking of search engines, by searching

  centos rpms

I was able to find http://mirror.centos.org/centos/ , the package tree
from one of the CentOS package mirrors on the Web.  Navigating down
through the 5.6 tree, one gets to 

http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5.6/os/i386/CentOS/ 

And that, in turn, directly answers your question about what CentOS
5.6's current RPMs are for two of those three OpenJDK6 packages you
meantioned:

	java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0-1.16.b17.el5.i386.rpm
	java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel-1.6.0.0-1.16.b17.el5.i386.rpm

Those parse as:

Package Name              Upstream Ver.  Pkg. Ver.   Distro  Arch.   Suffix
java-1.6.0-openjdk        1.6.0.0        1.16.b17    EL5     i386    rpm
java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel  1.6.0.0        1.16.b17    EL5     i386    rpm

You're probably asking, hey, what about the java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin
package?  Fire up ye olde Web browser again, and search for 

   openjdk-plugin  centos

In http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=28549&forum=38 , 
some guy says:

   Hello,

  since openjdk-plugin is no more available for RHEL5 (why ???), here is
  how to replace it by jre (sun)

Blah blah blah blah blah.  Beware of advice you see on Web discussion
forums, because a lot of the people posting there are hopeless losers.  
I happen to know, and mentioned earlier, that the fully open source
implementation of the browser plugin is called 'icedtea' or 'icedtea6',
so your next logical Web search is:

  centos icedtea plugin

And you find an 'icedtea'-based plugin package for CentOS 5.x
systems running Java 7 (1.7), which is a later Java release than you're
running, in CentOS's separate 'testing' repository,
http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/testing/i386/RPMS/
_But_, they also have, immediately above that, package file
java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin-1.6.0.0-0.6.b08.el5.centos.i386.rpm , which is
pretty much exactly what you want.

What's the 'testing' repo?  Well, searching on 

  centos testing repo

reveals the answer on http://dev.centos.org/centos/5/CentOS-Testing.repo 
The contents of that page is what you can put, verbatim, as a new file
/etc/yum.repo.d/CentOS-Testing.repo, if you want 'yum' to know about the
repo and have ongoing access to its contents.  Notice this warning in
the comment lines:

# CentOS-Testing:
# !!!! CAUTION !!!!
# This repository is a proving grounds for packages on their way to
# CentOSPlus and CentOS Extras.  They may or may not replace core CentOS
# packages, and are not guaranteed to function properly.  These packages
# build and install, but are waiting for feedback from testers as to
# functionality and stability. Packages in this repository will come and
# go during the development period, so it should not be left enabled or
# used on production systems without due consideration. 




> Do I specify an install directory such as /usr/openjdk6  or /opt/openjdk6 ?  

No.

Again, you _really, REALLY need_ to learn some basics about how to
administer CentOS.  If you don't, I predict you are going to seriously
screw up your system within a year.

How many times do I have to tell you?  Do NOT go outside your packaged
software regime (RPMs for CentOS) unless you seriously have no
reasonable alternative.  Do NOT go around just dumping shit into
/usr/[whatever], or /opt.  Find and stick with genuine packaged software
that is appropriate for CentOS and packaged in credible, trustworthy
RPMs.  Do NOT download some binary blah-blah.1.2345.run and execute it
just because some idiot gave random-ass advice to do that on a Web
forum.

And, getting back to my ORIGINAL point, make damned sure that you're
solving the right problem.  Which brings us to:


> Almost forget, will openjdk6 have the jar or alt-jar utility  ? Hope
> can begin to install java applications after this.

Excuse me?  Was all of the above an unfocussed, semirandom initiative to
throw more software at your system hoping without doing so will let you
'begin to intall Java applications'?

Eddie, c'mon.  Do not simply start introducing more variables.  If you
have a problem, you need to _diagnose_ it so that you have a reasonable
plan of action and know WHY you are doing what you subsequently do, to
address your problem.  You need to understand what is causing your
problem, and why the next step helps.  Unless you do that, you have no
confidence whatsoever that the next step is going to help at all.  


To address your immediate question, I have absolutely no idea what your
phrase 'the jar or alt-jar' utility means.  As I just got through
saying, I don't even _like_ Java.  I am not going to sit and learn it
just to answer your questions.


Morever, Eddie, this is the end of the line.  You kept calling my
replies to you 'support':  Well, sorry, I do not do support.  The main
reason I have been spending time answering your private mail is that I
have been also reposting my answers to you to CABAL's public mailing
list so that other people can benefit.  If that were not the case, then
I would be just doing free-of-charge private technical support for an
acquaintance.  The Linux (and open source) community does not do that.

The Linux (and open source) community has a large number of _public_
technical discussion forums.  You need to find those and participate in
them.

As I mentioned, CABAL has a public discussion mailing list.  I would be
surprised if there were substantial knowledge of Java there, but maybe I
would be surprised.  It is at:
http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire

Anyhow, it is time for you to stop trying to ask me questions in private
e-mail that you SHOULD be asking on public discussion forums.  (Which is
what I mean when I say this is the end of the line.)


----- End forwarded message -----




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