"SB" == Stephane Bortzmeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Me> I grabbed the 1.2.2 RC 4 release of the Java Development Kit
SB> It is even more non-free than JDK 1.1 so I would never use SB> it myself. SB> The best solution, IMHO, is to install kaffe and to tell SB> jikes to use kaffe's classes. that way, you have a 100 % SB> Free Java: Following your suggestion, I took a look at Kaffe's Web site and downloaded the source tar file. There are some showstopping problems with Kaffe on PowerPC: 1. Compatibility. Kaffe isn't as up-to-date as the Sun/Blackdown JDK, which means that applications using the latest and greatest technologies won't work. Kaffe only supports JDK 1.1 (but not completely), with some JDK 1.2 features; Sun/Blackdown's JDK is 1.2.2. 2. Convenience. Kaffe isn't available as a binary package for PowerPC. They do have Debian packages (unlike Blackdown), but only for the i386 architecture. The Kaffe folks also aren't making the Debianized source available to allow users to easily create debs for their own systems. 3. Compilability. Kaffe simply doesn't build on PowerPC Linux systems (their PowerPC port seems to be based on their SPARC port, and isn't nearly complete). That means that presenting Kaffe as a free alternative to the Sun/Blackdown JDK on PowerPC is a false lead -- since Kaffe doesn't support the same standards, isn't easily obtainable for non-i386 systems, and can't be compiled on PowerPC without a fair amount of work, it's not an option for people who need a Java development environment on PowerPC *today*. CMC +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Behind the counter a boy with a shaven head stared vacantly into space, a dozen spikes of microsoft protruding from the socket behind his ear. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ C.M. Connelly [EMAIL PROTECTED] SHC, DS +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
