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

[Dr Andrew John Hughes]

On 10:08 Tue 14 Dec     , Omair Majid wrote:
> 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?
> 

It should use $(bindir).  It's perfectly possible someone could install in /usr
and /usr/jre/bin is going to look quite odd.  As such, I'd suggest only creating
the symlinks if $(prefix)/jre/bin exists.

> > 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?
> 

You also check that old_link is a link and not a regular file.  test -L.

So something like:

if [ -e $(prefix)/jre/bin ] ; then
  if [ -L $(prefix)/jre/bin/javaws ] ; then
    rm -f $(prefix)/jre/bin/javaws ; 
  fi
  if [ ! -e $(prefix)/jre/bin/javaws ] ; then
    ln -s $(bindir)/javaws $(prefix)/jre/bin ;
  fi ;
fi

and similar cases for the others.

snip...
> >>>> 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.
> 

I think it will be more confusing, to be honest, to have a different tool with the
same name.  I know we have 'javaws' but doing it with the control panel too seems
to go a bit far.

> Thanks,
> Omair

-- 
Andrew :)

Free Java Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc. (http://www.redhat.com)

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