[ale] AARG! Manual software updates, Sun Java, LibreOffice, help

[Ron Frazier]

Jim,

You're right about OpenJDK.  I could have that up and running within a 
few minutes using the package manager.  There is one reason I may choose 
to / have to go through the pain of implementing the manual Oracle Java 
update procedure I was griping about.  I live in both the Linux and 
Windows worlds.  I do things on each system that are hard or impossible 
to do on the other.  So, I routinely dual boot my systems.  I and some 
friends are about to start plodding through one of the major Java 
programming books as a learning experience.  The book is specifically 
written for Windows and the Oracle JRE / JDK, as most books are.  I need 
the examples to all work on both platforms.  I think I'm OK on Linux 
with the Oracle JRE / JDK.  I doubt if OpenJDK will work properly for 
everything I need to do.  Also, OpenJDK is not available for Windows as 
far as I can tell.  So, I haven't found a good clean solution.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 11/5/2011 8:56 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> Oracle is not Sun.
>
> So time for a very careful process followed by a history dump to 
> automate the other machines.
>
> This is a PRIME example of why closed-source code is bad for 
> open-source environments.
>
> Sorry you're having such a non-fun experience. I wish the open-jre 
> were more capable but it does work for about 95% of what I see.
>
> Fedora ships with
> java-1.5.0-gcj-1.5.0.0-35.fc15.x86_64
> java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0-60.1.10.4.fc15.x86_64
>
> so poke around your distro for similar. That will solve the 
> auto-upgrade issue.
>
> On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 6:33 PM, Ron Frazier 
> <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Followup. Warning ... ranting follows.
>
>     <rant on>
>
>     <jumping up and down on the table>
>     <screaming things that cannot be printed or said in mixed company>
>     <throwing any non essential breakable objects against the wall>
>
>     These are things I'm seriously tempted to be doing. But, in reality, I
>     may just go get some unhealthy food that involves lots of sugar or
>     lots
>     of carbohydrates.
>
>     It seems that there are no longer any Sun Java packages in any PPA's
>     that are current or will be updated. Apparently due to some licensing
>     garbage or something.
>
>     I just finished spending an hour reading through a 14 PAGE printed
>     howto
>     document telling me how to uninstall old Sun Java from Ubuntu and
>     reinstall the new version and how to do the same thing EVERY time
>     there
>     is an update. ( If you're interested, here's the procedure:
>     https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/java ) While I
>     appreciate the publisher of the web page making this available, my
>     general response is YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING! Now I get to spend HALF an
>     HOUR on EVERY COMPUTER updating Java EVERY TIME there is an UPDATE!!!
>     Oh, and there are 3 other commands I have to repeat for each user
>     login
>     on the machine. There's NO STINKING WAY an AVERAGE user can do this
>     without throwing in the towel, even if they were willing to. I'm not
>     average, so I can certainly do it, ASSUMING I'm willing to, which is
>     highly questionable. This is totally insane. This particular procedure
>     is MUCH MUCH harder than Windows. To update Java in Windows, I go to
>     Java page, click a link to check my version, click a link to download
>     the new one, save it, execute it, and answer a question or two.
>     DONE, 5
>     MINUTES FLAT, for ALL USERS on the machine. If that fails, I MAY
>     have to
>     spend another 10 minutes finding the stand alone installer and
>     executing
>     that.
>
>     I'm not blaming anyone necessarily reading this, unless you work
>     for the
>     Java team at Oracle. However, since I didn't necessarily want to break
>     all the nearby dishes I can get my hands on, I decided to blow off
>     steam
>     on the message board. I recently had a similar unhappy experience with
>     an ATI video card. What I will say, to anyone with any influence who's
>     listening, is that every time an experience like this happens to a
>     person who's not a super duper geek, it drives them away from the
>     Linux
>     platform, not toward it.
>
>     yada yada so on and so forth
>
>     Time for a DQ Blizzard with Reece Cups and supper. Then, I'll see if I
>     can successfully implement this insane procedure. There goes a
>     good part
>     of my evening.
>
>     <rant off>
>
>     Sincerely,
>
>     Ron
>

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com

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