[fedora-java] Re: jpackage.org and FC4

[Ian Pilcher]

Gary Benson wrote:
> Ian Pilcher wrote:
> 
>>Gary Benson wrote:
>>
>>>In short, update from JPackage's yum repository at your peril.
>>
>>And therein lies a problem.  As you say, there are valid reasons for
>>using JPackage RPMs on Fedora Core 4, but doing so is "perilous".
> 
> 
> Yes, though again it's only a problem if you replace Fedora packages
> with JPackage ones.  Installing packages from JPackage that do not
> exist in Fedora should pose no problems.
> 

So I can install Sun's JDK via JPackage, develop a web application, and
be sure that it will run on Fedora's Tomcat?

> 
>>It would be a very good thing, IMNSHO, if the Fedora Java folks and
>>the JPackage folks could develop some sort of co-existance strategy.
> 
> 
> We do coexist. Unfortunatly the limitations of rpm's linear version
> space mean that something has to give, and that something is
> upgrading.
> 

Yeah, God knows I'm no RPM fanboy.  I can think of a few possible
strategies:

1.  Move all of Fedora's JPackage-compatible/alternative packages into a
     separate Yum repository (fedora-java{,-devel,-updates,-testing}
     etc.).  Users could them choose between JPackage and Fedora Java
     packages by enabling/disabling appropriate repositories.

2.  JPackage could create specially named packages for Fedora.  For
     example, tomcat5 could become jpp-tomcat5 or somesuch.  Obviously,
     jpp-tomcat5 would have to provide "tomcat5", and dependency
     resolvers such as Yum might still mess things up; installing a
     JPackage RPM might pull in a Fedora package, for example.

3.  Yum could be enhanced to give more control to system administrators.
     It might be possible, for example, to configure Yum to "prefer"
     packages from a particular repository regardless of their EVR.

Just thinking out loud...

-- 
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Ian Pilcher                                        i.pilcher at comcast.net
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