[CentOS] Java support : is there a native package ?

[Matt Hyclak]

On Wed, Nov 09, 2005 at 02:39:06PM -0600, Les Mikesell enlightened us:
> > > OK, so you need a .spec file and a couple of lines of script.  The point
> > > is that the hard and unnecessary part is finding all the stuff yourself
> > > in the first place.  Instead of directions that point to distribution
> > > agnostic and vague directions, why can't we have something that just
> > > installs it for us?
> > 
> > Because it's a distribution agnostic process?
> 
> So is every other application we have until someone bundles it
> for the distribution.
>

You have a point. This is definitely rpm-based-distro agnostic and provides
an easy way to do things. Not *quite* as easy as "yum install java", but
they did all the hard parts.

> > Directions for CentOS:
> > 
> > 1. Create an RPM build tree as per
> >    ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris/hacks/rpmbuild-nonroot-1.0.tar.gz
> > 
> > 2. Download java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.05-1jpp.nosrc.rpm from
> >    http://jpackage.org/rpm.php?id=3033
> > 
> > 3. rpm -i java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.05-1jpp.nosrc.rpm
> > 
> > 4. Download JDK 5.0 Update 5 from
> >    http://javashoplm.sun.com/ECom/docs/Welcome.jsp?StoreId=22&PartDetailId=jdk-1.5.0_05-oth-JPR&SiteId=JSC&TransactionId=noreg
> > 
> > 5. Put jdk-1_5_0_05-linux-i586-rpm.bin in your SOURCES directory created in
> >    step 1.
> > 
> > 6. rpmbuild -ba SPECS/java-1.5.0-sun.spec
> > 
> > 7. Install the resulting RPMS, or put them in your local yum repository.
> >    
> > 
> > I'm not trying to be a jack@$$ here, but I'm really not sure what you want.
> > I laid it out in 7 steps, and I'm not sure you could make it much shorter.
> 
> It could be one step if those instructions were slightly altered
> to become an executable shell script.  Having the script run as
> part of an installation or system setup and something that checks
> for updates would make it even nicer.  Does the jpackage rpm you mention
> take care of twiddling the symlinks of the alternatives system that
> I have never been able to find documentation about?

The problem with the shell script is that you have to agree to a license
from sun when you download it. The links aren't active until you click yes
for yes. But it's not a bad idea...

And yes, they take care of more alternatives stuff than I'd care to know
about, so that's why I recommend putting in the effort. 

Matt

-- 
Matt Hyclak
Department of Mathematics 
Department of Social Work
Ohio University
(740) 593-1263