[icedtea-web] RFC: add javaws and itweb-settings to jre/bin as well

[Omair Majid]

On 12/13/2010 07:05 PM, Dr Andrew John Hughes wrote:
> On 16:55 Mon 13 Dec     , Omair Majid wrote:
>> On 12/13/2010 04:23 PM, Dr Andrew John Hughes wrote:
>>> On 15:55 Mon 13 Dec     , Omair Majid wrote:
>>>> IcedTea-Web does not add either the javaws or itweb-settings binary to
>>>> jre/bin. The attached patch addresses that by creating symlinks under
>>>> jre/bin/ to the actual javaws and itweb-settings binaries.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Until I read this, I wasn't even aware there was a jre/bin.  I looked
>>> under bin, saw the files and wondered what you were on about.
>>>
>>> One problem I see is you are assuming jre/bin exists (i.e. that the
>>> prefix being used is a jdk install).  This may not be the case.
>>> You should probably only create these symlinks if jre/bin exists in
>>> prefix.
>>>
>>
>> The attached patch first creates $(DESTDIR)$(prefix)/jre/bin before
>> creating the symlinks.
>>
>
> Sorry, missed that.
>

Well, I can see how you missed it: it wasnt in the original patch that I 
posted, just in the updated patch ;)

>> One thing that I did notice is that 'make install' will install over
>> existing files but adding ln -s makes this fail. Should I guard ln -s
>> with a check to ensure that the symlink does not exist? Should I rm the
>> symlink location first? Or is there a better thing to do in such cases?
>>
>
> Do we actually need them? Could we not just fix javaws to use $(bindir)?
> I'm not keen on having this non-standard directory (as regards the normal
> /usr layout, not the JDK).
>

My concern is more towards what users expect. If users expect a javaws 
binary under JDK_HOME/jre/bin/ as well as JDK_HOME/bin, then not having 
it might cause issues.

As for fixing javaws, can I hardcode JDK_HOME/bin/javaws for now, or 
should I make it use $(bindir) from configure?

> If we really really do, then they need to be created with a guard as you suggest.
> I can't see an install option for links.
>

What if the links exist but could be invalid? I would rather do 
something like
rm -f old_link
ln -s new_bin new_link
Does that look ok?

>>>
>>> Are you sure these aren't hard links?
>>> If not, maybe that would be the better option, though it assumes bin and
>>> jre/bin are on the same disk.
>>>
>>
>> These really seem to be identical but duplicate files.
>>
>
> Yeah I checked this with ls and cmp too and they aren't.  Can't see in the
> OpenJDK log where they are created though :-(
>

Yeah, I cant find anything in the build logs or in the makefile that 
indicates that files are being copied either.

>>>> On a separate note, should we not create symlinks named jcontrol and
>>>> ControlPanel (under jre/bin) that link to itweb-settings?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Why would you want these?  ControlPanel especially is very ugly.  We
>>> already agreed on the name being itweb-settings.
>>>
>>
>> Yeah, and I dont have a problem with that. I was just thinking about
>> compatibility (just like this jre/bin/javaws thing that tripped me up).
>> The proprietary JDK, for example, symlinks ControlPanel to jcontrol.
>>
>
> Do we really want to be compatible to the level?  It's a different control
> panel with different options anyway.
>

Right, but again this may cause issues if users expect 'jcontrol' to 
work. That said, I personally have no problems with this.

Thanks,
Omair