From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Nov 30 21:26:34 1995 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) id VAA07769 for questions-outgoing; Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:26:34 -0800 Received: from ref.tfs.com (ref.tfs.com [140.145.254.251]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.6.12/8.6.6) with ESMTP id VAA07758 for ; Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:26:30 -0800 Received: (from julian@localhost) by ref.tfs.com (8.6.12/8.6.9) id VAA15019; Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:25:49 -0800 From: Julian Elischer Message-Id: <199512010525.VAA15019@ref.tfs.com> Subject: Re: Java for FreeBSD? To: ANDRSN@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU (Annelise Anderson) Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 21:25:48 -3200 (PST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <01HY9MH8OJO2005IEM@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU> from "Annelise Anderson" at Nov 30, 95 08:37:53 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 2184 Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk The BSDI version that freeBSD uses (by default) doesn't have JAVA yet.. however the LINUX version does.. several people have run the Linux version under FreeBSD using the Linux emulator. > > Given the BusinessWeek Dec. 4 cover story, "The Software Revolution," > I am curious about whether Java will soon become available for > FreeBSD. > > A port is apparently not a trivial matter. However, there seem to be > quite a few operating systems for which Java is available, including > Solaris, HP-UX (at least soon), the Mac (before too long), and > Windows 95 and Windows NT. And Microsoft is trying to develop > Visual Basic as a competitor to Java (called Blackbird, supposedly > will be ready January 96). > > Support for Java applets (Hot Java) is also available in the latest beta > releases of Netscape for several platforms--not sure if FreeBSD is > covered in any of these. > > Meanwhile supposedly a Linux prerelease port of the Java Developers > Kit is available on ftp://substance.blackdown.org/pub/Java/linux-- > there's also a pointer to this location at > http://www-lf.eb.com/~tdarugar/java.html, which explains the installation > process, necessary libraries, etc. An "elm" distribution is necessary. > > At this point I'm talking about things I don't understand, so please > forgive me. It just seems Java is a focus of competition and > new developments and that it's therefore important that it be > available for FreeBSD, lest people turn to other platforms and/or > operating systems. there is a lot of interest in this and rest assured people are at work on it.. unlike Other groups where people tend to jump in head first, the freeBSD way is to more line up your ducks first, and then shoot them with a single shot.. We are working on a number of prerequisites for Java support (e.g. a good p-threads package) we'll let the Linux guys rush around cleaning up Java (apparently the version released by sun is a REAL MESS) and when they've done that, we'll grab it and do the small amount of porting needed toget it here.. it's a better use of our time.. having said that, we have several people watching Java very seriously.. > > Annelise > >