Chapter 2. Java Development

Table of Contents

2.1. What full-fledged Java development platforms are available in Debian?
2.2. What free platforms are there and how can I contribute?
2.3. Questions on platforms and license concerns
2.3.1. Java 7 and 8
2.3.2. Oracle proprietary JVM
2.4. Making Debian packages for Java programs.
2.4.1. Can the package go into main?
2.4.2. Is there a good example Debian package?
2.4.3. What tools are available to make maintaining a Java packages easier?
2.4.4. Linking package Javadoc to system javadoc.

If you are looking for an integrated, java virtual machine, compiler and runtime environment Debian does provide them. Of course that would depend on the Debian GNU/Linux version you are using, generally speaking they would be:

  • Sun's OpenJDK 7, available since the Debian 8.0 Jessie release in the main section.

  • Oracle's OpenJDK 8, available since the Debian 9.0 Strech release in the main section.

It is recommended to install one of the default-jdk or default-jre meta packages which installs the default version of OpenJDK for the current Debian version.

Please help one of the Free Java implementations if you want to use Java in Debian. There are a lot of projects that you can choose from: