Where to find Sun Java in Ubuntu and Debian [LWN.net]

Where to find Sun Java in Ubuntu and Debian

Posted Jul 26, 2006 13:51 UTC (Wed) by sladen (subscriber, #27402)
Parent article: Ubuntu Linux 6.06 review (Jem Report)

System->Administration->Package Manager->Search: jdk [go]

The package is called 'sun-java5-jdk' and has been available in Ubuntu and Debian (technically, in multiverse and non-free) ever since the license change allowed the wider distribution (May 2006 LWN coverage) of Sun's JDK and Runtime.

A option for Ubuntu, although not for Debian, is perhaps moving the Sun Java packages from 'multiverse' to the new 'dapper-commerical' repository, to maybe make them more visible and even easier to find; presumbly (because universe and multiverse are not enabled by default) the package wasn't found by a similar search.

It's probably a good demonstration to anyone listening (especially from Sun) that until Java is available under truely Free licensing terms, that the adoption and use of Java on GNU/Linux is still going to remain fairly painful; even when distributors strive their best.

Until Free Java appears, we're stuck with sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jre or having the GCJ "fake" java (actually surprisingly good...) working out of the box. Having working GCJ is hopefully better than a fresh MS Windows installation where you get neither ...I guess MacOSX wins this round.

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