[arch-general] Java 8

[Guillaume ALAUX]

On 30 March 2014 19:47, Javier Vasquez <j.e.vasquez.v at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 6:02 PM, Guillaume ALAUX
> <guillaume at archlinux.org> wrote:
>> 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?
>>>
>>> ...
>>
>> 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
>
> I'm curious why such hurry?  Is 7 broken, or is it a security
> weakness?  Why not waiting for icedtea8 to be released?  If it's not
> clear when, then why not interacting with upstream to find out, and
> provide help if needed (testing or whatever)?
>
> --
> Javier.

You are right in that there is no particular hurry: 7 is not broken
nor is there any particular weakness. Nevertheless OpenJDK8 is now
officially out and in a stable release so it should be packaged at one
time.

Waiting for IcedTea8 is a possibility that I mentionned on arch-dev-public [0].

As for when it will be released, IcedTea devs state "probably based on
u20" but I admit this does not give me even a rough idea of when this
should be. This I am going to ask on the IcedTea mailing list. This
would help in making the decision.

[0] https://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2014-March/026082.html