The "javafx might not be present" problem

[Mark Raynsford]

On 2018-02-09T10:28:56 -0800
John Neffenger <john at status6.com> wrote:
>
> I reported the bug below to fix this same issue for Ubuntu:
> 
> JavaFX support is in Oracle JDK 9 but missing in Ubuntu OpenJDK 9
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-9/+bug/1721852
> 
> You can comment there if you're interested in seeing support for JavaFX 
> be part of the default installation of OpenJDK 9 or 10 on Ubuntu. I'm 
> hoping it can get included in time for the next Long Term Support 
> release of Ubuntu 18.04 in April.

I'll be commenting there as I would like to see it fixed. I'd like to
reiterate though that it doesn't solve the problem of:

  * Depending on OpenJFX from library code: You can't specify a
    dependency on OpenJFX because it doesn't have Maven coordinates.
    OpenJFX occupies a grey area where it's sort of part of the JDK
    and sort of not.

  * Using OpenJFX from an application that hasn't been processed
    with jlink and is using Java 9 modules: You can't check
    reflectively for the existence of JavaFX without mentioning
    it in the module system.

The above ticket just reduces the number of places where JavaFX might
not be present by one. I'd prefer a more general solution to this
problem. I am volunteering to help if there's any way that I can help.

-- 
Mark Raynsford | http://www.io7m.com