[arch-dev-public] Fwd: [arch-general] Java 8

[Guillaume ALAUX]

Hi devs,

A new major version of Java went out recently [0]: "OpenJDK 8" but we
do not have a package for it (for the following reason) and some
Archers are asking questions [1] or flagging our openjdk7 package as
out of date:

All Linux distros - including Arch - build OpenJDK using the IcedTea
project [2]. Its goal is to cleanly build OpenJDK from Oracle, bring
some more feature and it **was** also to re-implement closed source
parts. I expected IcedTea to quickly release a version for OpenJDK8
but it seems this is not their first priority [3] (which I totally
understand). Nowadays there is no closed source part anymore in
OpenJDK, and the license is clearly "GPL with classpath exception"
which is a standard in the Java world.

I have been working on a package based on OpenJDK8 built from source
but without IcedTea that I think would fit to our repos. I still have
some work for it to be released but I would be in favor of pushing
this "OpenJDK without IcedTea" to extra until IcedTea v3.0 stable is
out and could be used to build/augment our package.

Any thought/objection/remark about?

[0] http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/announce/2014-March/000166.html
[1] https://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-general/2014-March/035700.html
[2] http://icedtea.classpath.org
[3] http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/distro-pkg-dev/2014-March/026727.html

--
Guillaume


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Guillaume ALAUX <guillaume at archlinux.org>
Date: 29 March 2014 01:02
Subject: Re: [arch-general] Java 8
To: General Discussion about Arch Linux <arch-general at archlinux.org>


On 28 March 2014 18:30, Caleb Cushing <xenoterracide at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm just wondering what the plan is, if any,  for getting java 8
> packages into arch?
>
> --
> Caleb Cushing
>
> http://xenoterracide.com
>
> Calendar:
> https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=xenoterracide%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago

Hello,

There is no official Java 8 package in Arch Linux because the OpenJDK
we provide uses the IcedTea [0] but unfortunately IcedTea has no
stable version available **yet** for Java 8. More details about
IcedTea roadmap here [1]. So the plan (for me at least) is to wait for
IcedTea 3.0 that will support Java 8. Shipping a "vanilla" OpenJDK8
into extra (possibly from the binaries provided by Oracle) could be an
option in the meantime.

[0] http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/Main_Page
[1] http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/distro-pkg-dev/2014-March/026727.html

--
Guillaume