“The FreeBSD Foundation is pleased to announce the availability of the official Java Runtime Environment and Java Development Kit for FreeBSD. The Foundation negotiated a license with Sun Microsystems to distribute these FreeBSD binaries. The binaries are based on JDK 1.5 and work with the official FreeBSD 5.4 and FreeBSD 6.0 releases on the i386 platform.”
This is great news! I’m not really fond of Java in the first place, but I’m always happy to see things improving for FreeBSD, even if its something like this.
FreeBSD is a great OS and it seems to be improving nicely as time goes by.
Love it.
This should make installing Java much easier. I ran into issues with OOo Base where it requires Java to work with tables — anyways, after too much work, I got Java 1.4 working (use of Linux compatibility and other documented tricks).. now with native binaries, that should be much easier. Hurray! 🙂
I define “easy installation” by whether I have to go out of my way to install something. With java/jdk14, I had to go to the Sun website and download two or three tarballs, and then go to a 3rd-party site and download a patchset. With this new one, it sounds like I just have to go to one website.
But the main problem (in my mind) remains: I still have to load up my browser and go to a website to install the port. Not cool. If all I have to do is say “I accept”, why can’t that be put into the makefile? Other ports are interactive, why can’t this one show me the agreement and allow me to accept/decline?
I believe this was discussed on the mailing list — Sun requires it to be done this way.
Sun needs your explicit consent to their license to be able to sue you for violation of the EULA, if they have to.
cheers,
dalibor topic
This official release is easier to install and less buggy than the
existing jdk15 port, Lewis said.
🙂
While this is great news for FreeBSD, wouldn’t it have been better in the long run for them to focus their efforts on the free java implementation?
While this is great news for FreeBSD, wouldn’t it have been better in the long run for them to focus their efforts on the free java implementation?
This is basically a short-term solution.
In this case, FreeBSD didn’t have to reimplement all of the java libraries, which form the core of the Java platform. They just have to reimplement the JNI code. This allows them to push out a working, stable and possibly optimized java implementation in less time.
In its present status, free java is not enterprise-ready yet and FreeBSD is used extensively on servers, so a stable java implementation would be very useful.
I’d say one jump forward for freeBSD, two steps back for their efforts on the free java implementation.
I use PC-BSD (FreeBSD 6.0) and this sounds great!
*UPDATE*
Flash support and OSS are the only things i have trouble with although PBI’s make it much easier. PC-BSD uses Linux’s Flash and it works fine(after fiddling for a couple of minutes…).
Edited 2006-04-06 00:43
It WILL be better in the long run. The race has begun awhile back, it’s not time for the peak sprint yet
I’m all for a free Java implementation. Give it time and it will happen. If not by just the community, by Sun themselves. We’ll have to wait and see. Those who think I am crazy? I’ve seen stranger things happen in my lifetime. Linux Expos being full of people with suits and ties for one
I also saw IBM spraypaint “Peace, Love and Linux” penguins all over the streets of New York a few years ago.
Time will tell.
This Rocks, the more “official” software released for BSD, the stronger it is
how about flash? man is flash a real PITA on FreeBSD
But I am glad I won’t have to click through a zillion license agreements now and download separate stuff just to get java working.
I second both of those points
The state of native Flash is deplorable, even though it’s not the FreeBSD project’s fault. The java stuff is mildly annoying, but I’m glad to hear that things will be getting easier.
In order to get a site working with Flash today, I had to remove my native Firefox build and install linux-firefox + linux-flashplugin7. Seems that the native version of Flash only supports up to 4.0 … guess the specs have been advancing too rapidly for the project to keep up.
The Java stuff is somewhat less annoying than that, now that I’ve got the procedure downpat. But for a new user, it’s both annoying and intimidating. I’m glad that they’ll be able to fix it.
While it is certainly welcomed to have Java 1.5 binaries, these are still only available for x86. So the headline is somewhat misleading.
I have a couple of servers on FreeBSD 6.0 that use SPARC chips, and I can’t run some server applications that need Tomcat (because of Java). Sure, I could use Solaris, but I know FreeBSD a LOT better.
It may take a few hours for your system to compile Java for your platform, but it’s not that hard, and you only have to do it once.
The Java is a binary only release, meaning that it can’t be recompiled for other platforms.
Thank God for that. It was really getting annoying having to compile java from source. The other annoyance was having to register with Sun before you could download all the sources. This is very good news indeed and its a welcome time saver.
!!!
This is good news for the possibilities of a rock solid and excelent OS!
Java is not my cup of tea, but it is good to see FreeBSD getting even better!
Are they trying also “ClassPath” or they are not interested in it?
P.S.
“I only wonder how is that BSD guys are negotiating a license with Sun Microsystems to distribute the binaries are based on JDK 1.5, when eveybody knows that Sun is a company of “Sinners” that do not belive in God and JesusChrist, do not go to the church on sundays, and they are that mean in providing funds for BSD distros collaborators”
!!!
!!!
This is good news for the possibilities of a rock solid and excelent OS!
Java is not my cup of tea, but it is good to see FreeBSD getting even better!
Are they trying also “ClassPath” or they are not interested in it?
P.S.
“I only wonder how is that BSD guys are negotiating a license with Sun Microsystems to distribute the binaries are based on JDK 1.5, when eveybody knows that Sun is a company of “Sinners” that do not belive in God and JesusChrist, do not go to the church on sundays, and they are that mean in providing funds for BSD distros collaborators”
!!!
If you only know apt-get, synaptic, yum, yast, ./configure && make && make install, etc, please don’t talk so big about FOSS.
Edited 2006-04-06 03:52
!!!
— “If you only know apt-get, synaptic, yum, yast, ./configure && make && make install, etc, please don’t talk so big about FOSS”
HmmM… I don’t get you… You must be too smart for me. Plese explain that more clearly…
What is what bother you, the fact that I find FreBSD an excelent OS, that I asked about ‘Classpath’, or that ‘the guys from Sun don’t go to church on sundays’ as they should…???
!!!
This reallt is great, being a huge FreeBSD fan I was always worried about compiling Java. Now I don’t have to! Nice!
Are there no available JRE or JDK for FreeBSD before this one?
– This is good news btw, coz we are considering transferring our servers from Linux to FreeBSD and our Java codes in it.
There was a binary version that ran on top of the linux compatibility layer, there was also a native version but it was a pain due to the necessary downloading of source and licensing agreements and some other annoyances like you still needed the linux compat version. All in all, this saves time on installing java on freebsd.
Edited 2006-04-06 03:05
Yeah there were ways of installing Java on FreeBSD, but do to licensing it was a PITA. This will make it a who hell of alot simpler and less buggy. For example Jdk1.5 before this, was buggy and barely ran.
That would really save me some time compiling, downloading sources manually, and agreeing to that license I’ve never read.
…that so many people have already moved to 1.5. We are still lagging behind I guess at our company. What are the performance issues of running software in Linux compat vs. native? Also has 1.5 improved the speed of the VM?
1.5 is a bit faster, but mainly on the desktop end of things, where Swing’s speed and appearance saw serious work. 1.6 will continue this desktop emphasis, with dramatic Swing improvements and more speed improvements for the client side (though stack allocation has been deferred to 1.7).
The advantages of 1.5 are mainly for developers: the addition of Generics, Annotations, Enums and the new For-Loop made a lot of tasks a whole lot easier. Less trumpetted advantages are the new high-performance java.util.concurrency classes and StringBuilder class.
However no final implementation of Java EE 5 (J2EE 1.5 using the old versioning system) has been released yet. I think it’s due around August. When it’s released, companies will start migrating to version 5 in a big way, as it uses all Java 5’s features to dramatically reduce the amount of code (and in particular, deployment descriptors) needed when writing enterprise applications. Until then, most companies are in a fairly conservative holding pattern.
Edited 2006-04-06 11:29
>The advantages of 1.5 are mainly for developers:
>the addition of Generics, Annotations, Enums
It’s beginning to sound like Ada.
I look forward to it, even tho’ we (company) probably won’t move to it for another year or so.
Few days ago I moved my old box away from freebsd6.0 because I need absolutely Jedit and with FreeBSD I was “tired” to make a package of jedit/jdk14 on another faster box.
The only thing I missed from freebsd was sun-java.
I’ve always waited for this news.
So now with three floppies and a network I will be able to install a usefull desktop for my needs using *only* binaries.
Fantastic, fantastic.
Actually I think the port tree, or at least only security fixes are allowed, is frozen due to 6.1 release.
Also many applications, such as Jedit, depends on jdk14 and not jdk15, so I hope after 6.1 will be out it will be fixed the dependency.
Edited 2006-04-06 06:12
“We are committed to continuing to enhance Java support on FreeBSD,
including certified releases for FreeBSD 5.5, FreeBSD 6.1, and
added support for the amd64/em64t hardware platform,” Watson said.
Great! I’m using the jdk15 port on FreeBSD 6.1-PRERELEASE/amd64 now, but installing/upgrading is always a PITA. Great news.
For proper Flash support, just wait for Flash 8.5. It should reach more platforms and it will bring some powerful functionalities.
Great news! I remember spending hours compiling the java from source…. FreeBSD is my OS of choice, and it’s great to know that things are improving.
congrats to gregg, deb & the team for making it through the test suite.
cheers,
dalibor topic
Wrong. It is possible to build a native Java on FreeBSD (all platforms) – it is just too involved: Go to sun site, download source, put it in /usr/ports/distfiles then go to eyesbeyond, download FreeBSD patchset (by now you had to click through 2 EULAs) and put it in distfiles again, then build it from source. Oh, and you need a linux binary java installed for “bootstrapping” the java build, forgot that.
This takes half an hour – I don’t count the build process itself (which can be several hours depending on the speed of your machine) because you can just leave it, and you can do other things while it builds.
> Wrong. It is possible to build a native Java on FreeBSD (all platforms)
No, YOU are wrong. There is no Linux compat layer for SPARC, so you can’t do the Linux binary bootstrap on SPARC chips (even if there is the appropriate binary — I’ve not checked). There is a version for the Alpha, but not SPARC.
I’ve done the x86 install many times, so I know the drill. It just does not work on SPARC. You can check the SPARC mailing list — this is well known. You can also try the SPARC java port, which will inform you that it cannot work on this platform.
It was, we just don’t like manual downloads when accustomed to ports. You had to download the source manually, had to download a patchset manually, and before that, you had to install the linux binary jdk/jre. Then build it from source wich basically means typing make install in the ports directory.
This isn’t/wasn’t terribly difficult, I could write a short (few lines) howto for novice users, it is just not what we are accustomed to with ports. The build process itself could take several hours depending on the speed of you computer (but of course, you could do whatever you want while it was building in the background, so.)
Please, can you provide a link to this info? It would be wonderful!
Ah, I’m sorry then. I thought there is at least a version of java that can be used for bootstrapping the native build… Sorry for my mistake
Keep it up FreeBSD team! This was the long-awaited feature in FreeBSD. No need to look at linux for java applications anymore. FreeBSD rocks.