Chapter 2. Java Development

There are binary packages available for the Java 7 and Java 8 platforms since the Debian 8.0 ('Jessie') release and Debian 9.0 ('Stretch') release. Once this is done and you have updated your package database. You can either install the Java development kit in Jessie:

apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

or the Java runtime environment:

apt-get install openjdk-7-jre

Similarly, you can install the Java 8 development kit in Stretch:

apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk

or the Java 8 runtime environment:

apt-get install openjdk-8-jre

You might want to update the alternatives system to have Sun's tools as the default:

update-java-alternatives -s java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64

Or for java 8:

update-java-alternatives -s java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64

Since the version 7 of the OpenJDK, the proprietary JVM developments are done on the OpenJDK. That means that the OpenJDK is strongly tested and high quality.

Yes, but only if it can be build and run with Java programs/tools in main, and if it has a Debian compliant open source license. If it needs programs from contrib or non-free, then is must go into contrib or non-free, depending on the license of the program itself.

There are many Debian packages of both Java applications and libraries. These may serve as an good starting point, as it can serve as an example for making a new Debian package.

Both cdbs and debhelper (dh9) have support for ant scripts. There are also a number of specialized tools or build helpers. Have a look at javahelper or maven-debian-helper.

The java-policy mandates that documentation must be linked with the javadoc installed on the system. This can be done by passing javadoc the "-link" argument or by using the <link> tag in ant. An example:

# command line example of linking against system doc.
javadoc -link /usr/share/doc/default-jdk-doc/api [other arguments]

<!-- Ant example of linking against system doc -->
<javadoc [attributes]>
    <link href="/usr/share/doc/default-jdk-doc/api/" />
    [other tags]
</javadoc>

The documentation must be installed at the time the linking is done; so in the example cases above the package would need a Build-Depends or a Build-Depends-Indep on default-jdk-doc.

Here is a short list of packages that can be used for reference: