[fedora-java] F7 plan (gcj/java/eclipse/swt/java-gnome/fop/batik/etc)

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi,

I saw the following thread about F7 plans and noticed we don't have any
goals for gcj/eclipse/swt/java-gnome/etc
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.redhat.fedora.advisory-board/1551

So here are some ideas, deadlines and dependencies that might be nice to
look at for F7 for the various stacks that make up the fedora-devel-java
world. Please reply if you are working on any of this, if I am saying
something silly/wrong or if there are more stack/application issues that
you think are important for F7.

The "important dates" are:

- January 23 - Test1 Development Freeze
- February 20 - Test2 Development Freeze
- March 15 - Test3 Development Freeze
- Release in April

Test2 is just before Fosdem. And since all features should be in by
then, it would be nice to try and create a liveCD with all "our
features" on it to show off at Fosdem (Feb 24/25, Brussel, Belgium).

- 1.5 language & library support in gcj
  This seems to be the biggest and most intrusive upgrade. But starting
  this early seems like a very good idea. Upstream is cleaning up some
  last issues. And it needs lots of testing. Would be good if something
  can be cooked up for Test1. Needs help from gcc-toolchain people.

- Separate libgcj-rpm. Would be really nice so we can update the core
  class libraries separate from the core gcc compilers. Should also help
  with updates/dependencies since libgcj provides the mozilla plugin now
  and the awt libraries depend on gtk+. Would be nice if this can be
  done before Test2 so we can test an upgrade. Again needs help from
  gcc-toolchain people.

- java-gcj-compat
  The biggest issue with this, if the 1.5-stack goes through is that
  gjdoc isn't 1.5 safe. If we cannot easily update gjdoc, then maybe
  sinjdoc could be investigated as replacement.
  http://www.cag.lcs.mit.edu/~cananian/Projects/GJ/#sinjdoc
  (Do we also need updates for javap and javah replacements?)

- eclipse/swt/rcp stack
  3.2 seems already good to go, and 3.3 will not come out till the
  middle of 2007. Azureus, RSSOwl also already seem updated.
  Andrew Overholt already has written down some plans for the future:
  http://overholt.ca/wp/?p=76
  Maybe some work can be done to support the JDWP work in libgcj to
  get a little debugging going? And it would be nice to make sure that
  the ecj from eclipse and that from the gcj 1.5-stack match up.

- java-gnome
  There are some rumors about a upgrade/rewrite, but nothing concrete as
  far as I have seen. If there is a rewrite that might cause some extra
  work for applications like Frysk.

- gcj-compiled DocBook toolchain
  It seems we have made lots of progress with FOP and Batik since the
  last discussion about this:
  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.redhat.fedora.documentation/4582
  Does anybody know where we are with that at this time?
  Would be nice to coordinate with the fedora-docs-list if we can
  provide something.

- jpackage. Does it make sense to upgrade all packages to jpp 1.7 if the
  1.5-stack goes in?

- OpenOffice 2.2
  Listed here since it does have some parts written in java. 2.2 comes
  out end of February. Probably needs retesting with the gcj-stack. I
  don't know if there are new java language/library dependencies.

Some things that would be nice, but that are probably a lot of work,
maybe better left for Fedora *, unless someone volunteers of course! :)

- OpenJDK
  Still lots missing. Hopefully at Fosdem we will learn a bit more about
  the encumberments and when which parts of the core libraries will be
  liberated fully. But it might be nice to see if javac could be
  packaged. Or maybe a brave soul make hotspot work with classpath?

- PhoneME/CACAO/MIDPath/J2MEPolish
  The Micro Edition world seems to really have gotten a boost from the
  GPL release of PhoneME. A lot of this is pretty early access. But it
  would be nice to have parts of this supported to show that Fedora is
  also a nice platform to developer for java-based mobile devices.

- JBoss application server, SEAM stack
  Not tried yet. Parts like tomcat are already packaged. If we can get
  the 1.5-stack going it makes sense to look at this a bit closer. Maybe
  other parts can be lifted from jpackage?

- Netbeans
  I tried this recently, but it seems still very tight to the Sun java
  implementation and I was unable to fully start it up on the free
  stack. But some dependencies like JavaHelp have been liberated
  (gpl+exception) now (and entered jpackage recently). Also it isn't
  clear whether the current license (CDDL) is acceptable (it seems
  unacceptable to Debian).

- JOGL and WW2D should work, but I haven't done any testing recently.

- japitools should really be packaged and somehow be tied in with the
  build system so developers/packagers can get an easy overview of
  whether or not a library upgrade is binary compatible or not.

I am sure there is a lot missing. And as you saw none of the items above
have real deadlines or people responsible, etc. So please feel free to
reply with corrections add those yourself :)

Cheers,

Mark