[OSM-talk] Java under Fedora (was RE: Does potlatch make it too easy for people to unintentionally screw things up?)

[Jon Burgess]

On Sat, 2007-10-13 at 23:51 +1000, Andrew Loughhead wrote:
> > While the above steps result in a working Java install it can cause
> > problems if you want to switch back to the Fedora supplied GCJ etc.
> >
> > The recommended approach is to download the nosrc.rpm file from
> > jpackage.org and then use these to convert the Sun package 
> > into an installable RPM by following http://www.jpackage.org/nosrc.php
> >
> > The file you want is probably:
> > http://www.jpackage.org/browser/rpm.php?jppversion=1.7&id=7539 
> >   
> Well, yes that is the approach that google revealed.  I think I have 
> only downloaded the wrong thing from Sun 3 times so far.  But I have 
> tried again, and got a little further this time.  Steps were:

I've been there too several times. I normally try the rpmbuild first and
wait until it complains that the JDK/J2SDK/<whatever> file is missing
and then go find this filename on the download page.


> 1. As you suggested get the nosrc.rpm from
> 
> http://www.jpackage.org/browser/rpm.php?jppversion=1.7&id=7539 

[ More steps deleted ]

> 12. rpm -ivh --test java*.  Nope, still fails with libodbc and 
> libodbcinst, and mkfontdir.  Now so impressed by how straightforward it 
> is to have a JRE on Fedora in the approved way that I need to take a 
> good lie down!  ;-)  

It should hopefully all be resolved by IcedTea in Fedora 8 when it gets
released next month.

The Fedora policies with regard to non-free stuff can be quite annoying
at times. Proprietary stuff can itself cause other problems though, e.g.
no Java plugin for 64 bit browsers, Nvidia drivers not being available
for latest kernels or X.org releases. I can understand why Fedora
doesn't want to tie itself into relying on proprietary components.

	Jon