JDK is now Centrally Available

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JDK is now Centrally Available

Ignacio Reguero and Vova Golubkov IT/DIS

The Java Development Kit (JDK) has been made available on Central UNIX Services and workstations with access to the ASIS software repository, as well as on PCs connected to the NICE network.

As of the time of going to press the following versions are available:

   * NICE          1.0.2                       1.1.5   1.1.6   1.2beta3

   * Solaris       1.0.2         1.1.3         1.1.5   1.1.6   1.2beta3
   * HP/UX                1.0.3  1.1.3         1.1.5
   * AIX                                1.1.4          1.1.6
   * Digital UNIX  1.0.2                               1.1.6
   * Linux libc5   1.0.2                               1.1.6
   * Linux licbc6                                      1.1.6

A wrapper has been written and installed in order to facilitate access to all JDK commands for the possible available versions on both UNIX and NICE. The behaviour of the wrapper has been made consistent across platforms and it completely preserves the syntax of the JDK commands with two additions:

-version version_number
command line option to access a specific JDK version. Alternatively you can define the version by setting the JDKVERSION environment variable.
-listversions
command line option to list all available versions on your platform.

If you do not specify a given version, the recommended one for that platform will be chosen for you. This currently is 1.1.6 for all platforms with the exception of HP where the default version is 1.1.5.

Access to JDK on UNIX

Through the wrapper mechanism you may access the JDK directly through the command line:

                  /usr/local/bin/jdk_command <args>

Where jdk_command is any of the JDK commands such as

javac, javah, javap,
jdb, javadoc, javah_g, jar, java, java_g, javaverify, javaverify_g,
appletviewer, javakey, javald, jre, native2ascii, rmic, rmiregistry,
serialver

Access to JDK on NICE (PCs)

Access is enabled installing locally on your PC a set of .bat files that point to the JDK wrapper in the server. You do so by invoking:

Start Menu: Development: jdk: Install JDK environment

Once you install these files all JDK commands are available from any DOS prompt.

You may remove the installation by invoking:

Start Menu: Development: jdk: Uninstall JDK environment

Follow-up of JDK versions

As part of our commitment to build a reasonable Java development infrastructure (see previous article "Java Development infrastructure at CERN"), new JDK versions will be deployed as required. Several factors however will be taken into consideration before introducing them:

The relevance of the version/upgrade to the Developer community (as per general user feedback).
The easiness with which those versions integrate into the existing deployment infrastructure (in ASIS and NICE). For instance a new version which completely rearranges the structure of its software repository will have to be carefully cross-checked before the actual release.
The investment of resources required for the deployment weighted versus the added value of the release (typically an issue with subsequent beta releases of an unstable version).

In any case, a consensus will be sought with the Developer community through pre-agreed communication channels (currently the cern.java newsgroup and its mailing list mirror "cern-java@listbox.cern.ch").

Next: Garfield Version 6.25 Up: cnl232.html Previous: Java Development Infrastructure at CERN

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CERN Accelerating science

JDK is now Centrally Available

Access to JDK on UNIX

Access to JDK on NICE (PCs)

Follow-up of JDK versions