this is probably a little touchy to ask...

[Jerry]

On Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:17:32 +0000
Michel Talon <talon at lpthe.jussieu.fr> articulated:

> 
> Jerry said:
> "
> It took years, literally, before FreeBSD matured enough to get 64-bit
> drivers for nVidia working correctly on its platform. The failure to
> get the latest version(s) of Java working correctly on FreeBSD and
> thereby, at least in my case, make the latest version of Firefox fully
> usable, rests with the FreeBSD developers.
> "
> 
> I would be happy to have a precise information on what is not working.
> On my machine, FreeBSD-8.1 x86, Java works.
> niobe% java -version
> java version "1.6.0_03-p4"
> Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build
> 1.6.0_03-p4-michel_30_jul_2010_15_01-b00)
> Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build
> 1.6.0_03-p4-michel_30_jul_2010_15_01-b00, mixed mode)

On my system, using the latest build available in the ports system:

$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_07"
Diablo Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_07-b02)
Diablo Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 10.0-b23, mixed mode)


> As you can see, it is a recent java, and i have compiled it myself.
> If i remember well, the prebuilt diablo-jdk was not working. I have
> boostraped my compilation by using a prebuilt openjdk installed with
> pkg_add -r. Of course i modified the Makefile to be able to use it.
> 
> The openjdk package did not include a mozilla plugin, but the above
> compilation produces a plugin.
> 
> Now the real problem: firefox36 doesn't see the plugin, and even worse
> doesn't produce any message about the plugin when starting up. 
> However i am able to use the plugin under seamonkey, so it is clearly
> a firefox problem, and not a Java problem or a FreeBSD problem.
> Strangely enough, Konqueror, which doesn't use the plugin, but a
> direct invocation of java, doesn't work either. Execution of an
> applet begins, something appears but the applet execution never
> appears on screen. This is the first time i see Java not working on
> Konqueror.

I am using Firefox:

$ firefox3 --version
Mozilla Firefox 3.6.9, Copyright (c) 1998 - 2010 mozilla.org

If I wanted to use a different browser, I would. Hell, I could just use
Windows and not worry about Java incompatibilities entirely.

As per the Mozilla site:

"Starting in Firefox 3.6, you also need the new Java plugin included in
Java 6 Update 15 and above."

FreeBSD does not supply, nor support as far as I can decipher, that
version or any of the newer versions, the latest being version 6, update
21. Nor, as I stated previously, has anyone stated definitively why.

> Last point: some people say in this thread that nobody uses Java any
> more on the browser, hence it is of no importance that one cannot
> have a java enabled firefox. I have an example to the contrary, here
> in France you can submit your tax declaration online, and the
> application allowing to do that is a java applet running under the
> browser. Similarly i am using a printing service for my photographs
> which allows to download them and manage the order via a java applet.
> Hence, at least in my case i see immediately several important
> applications using a Java enabled browser.

People bitch about not needing or requiring Java based virtually solely
on the lack of support the FreeBSD community (developers) have afforded
it. If, Java worked as well on FreeBSD as it does on Windows and many
other operating systems, their scorn would turn to praise. It is just
the nature of the beast.

-- 
Jerry ✌
FreeBSD.user at seibercom.net

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