On 01/02/2011 06:28 PM, David Herron wrote:
yes..but..
Setting JAVA_HOME and export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH} is an excess
step to installing software implemented in Java that is not normally
required for other software.
On a Linux system, to run a Python program (for example), are you
required to do the equivalent? Or can you just type "python script.py"?
It's the latter...
Why isn't it the same/similar for Java?
It is, at least on Fedora, where java and javac are in
/usr/bin. But /usr/bin/java is a symlink to /etc/alternatives/java,
which is a symlink to /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.6.0-openjdk/bin/java.
Of course I'm talking about the Fedora-supported openjdk packages;
not the Oracle downloads.
Why do we make our customers perform extraneous steps? That they might
not understand. That they might get wrong. Where they might not read
the README. Which make it harder to do automated software installs.
..etc..
/usr/bin is normally reserved for programs managed by the system
package manager - i.e. distributed as .rpm or .deb files from a
package repository. Packages not distributed as .rpms or .debs
are usually installed in /opt or /usr/local. Packages compiled
from source can be installed anywhere; the GNU default if not
overridden is /usr/local.
BTW Several years ago Sun unilaterally decided that, on Linux, the
various JDK's should be installed in /usr/java. The design allowed for
multiple JDK's inside /usr/java. At the time I thought that was an okay
idea. But after having talked with people in several Linux distro
projects, I understand the value of weaving Java into the system so that
it feels as seamless as e.g. Python does.
There is no /usr/java on Fedora 14, at least.
--
--Per Bothner
[email protected] [email protected] http://per.bothner.com/
