If Icedtea-web is the plug-in component for OpenJDK upstream, its name should be openjdk-plugin !

[Fernando Cassia]

I was having the argument on the Fedora mailing list so I decided to
bring this here.

In the Windows world, you install Java, and get the whole enchilada...
Java JRE, browser plug-in, and Java Web Start JWS support.
Plus, the plug-in is configured to immediately start working
system-wide on all installed browsers.

So the end user just "installs java" and is done with it.

In the Linux world... it's different, mostly for historical reasons
that MAKE NO SENSE for the end user, who might not even be aware that
"Open source Java" (OpenJDK) includes the JRE but not the browser
plug-in. And even if he is aware of such fact, he wants to install
OpenJDK "and the browser plug-in for it". He doesn't care whether the
name is "OpenJDK plug-in" "Icedtea-web" "Classpath on a large glass,
on the rocks" or "TITOPNOTPOOP" (This Is The OpenJDK Plugin, NOT Part
of OPenjdk).

He doesn' t care. He shouldn' t care.

So, while my dream would be for Icedtea-web to be merged with OpenJDK
and become "openjdk-plugin" I imagine this would rub the Icedtea team
the wrong way, for all the usual egotistical reasons. So, at this
point, I don't want to start an ugly argument, let's say that for the
time being it'd suffice if IcedTea-Web team recommends distros to
include an alias for the Icedtea-web package, named "openjdk-plugin"
becase, gee, not everyone in the world knows that the open source java
has a plugin with a totally unrelated name to the open source java
package name (OpenJDK).

So when someone wants to "install Java" (and by "install Java" I mean
' the full Java experience, JRE,plugin, and JWS '), he would just "yum
install openjdk*" and get all necessary packages, openjdk and also
icedtea-web (because the package manager will pickup openjdk-plugin as
Icedtea-web).

This shows the need for a linux "UX" (User Experience) manager.
Programmers don't think about these small issues that just confuse
newcomers to the platform.

Thoughts? Comments? Expletives? ;-)
FC
-- 
During times of Universal Deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act
- George Orwell