John "jbob" Bobowicz's Blog

Java and Linux - A natural fit.

For the last two Linux World events (one in CA and one in NYC), I've been asked to identify all of the "Linux projects" on java.net so that they could be highlighted at the show. [insert long sigh here] Much to the chagrin of the person asking, I replied "all of them".

Both the question and the answer got me thinking about the seemingly obvious, yet overlooked synergies between Java, Linux and open source development. They have a lot more in common than just a common enemy.

Sure, the Java and open source communities have had their issues with one another. Speaking on the topic of Java last year at Linux World and at OSCON was an interesting education for me to say the least. Regardless, there are a lot of good reasons to use Java, Linux, and open source in the same sentence.

Linux has practically become the poster child for open source development. Java is well positioned to add a lot of value to both Linux and open source development in general, but it is not going to do this on it's own. Consider that one of the fundamental drivers of open source is the open sharing of source code among the largest community possible in order to encourage collaboration. Yes, the "free lunch" part is also important but most people get involved in open source to contribute as well as to use.

If you are going to write something with the intention of sharing it, why limit your audience by writing to a specific OS? Remember, even Linux has different flavors and may require a port to run from one version of Linux to another (much like cousin Unix). So, writing an open source application for Linux today and choosing a language other than Java (i.e. C, C++), requires a decision. Which version of Linux? Another option is to have a separate build for each variant.

For most open source projects, there is a different code base and build for every operating system that is supported. As we all know, not all ports are created equal. Much to my dismay, OS X is somewhat of an afterthought on openoffice.org because it always seem to be a rev behind the releases for Windows and Linux. That's the way it goes when you have to duplicate effort and resource for each operating system you support with little or no incremental value. Then priority kicks in and if your OS has a low priority, you're out of luck.

On the other hand, open source applications written in Java can be written so that one code base can support Linux (all variants), Windows, Solaris, and OS X.

With all of that said, Java is very complimentary to Linux and Open Source development. While there are many open source applications that are written in Java it is still a minority to ones with separate proprietary builds for each operating system they support.

How does Linux and java.net fit together? For the Linux developer, many of the projects on java.net will run on Linux. The ones that require native code not written for Linux would be the exception. Even those would only require the creation of the native code component. Either way, there is a ton of Java code out there for the taking that could be repurposed for the Linux environment. Don't overlook it when your looking for some good source code.

Providing better access for Java into the Linux environment is an area of opportunity. Java is occasionally disadvantaged by it's inability to access operating system internals. For example, I don't know of any way to update a Windows registry using Java. The creation of Java utility classes for better access into Linux internals would be a good way for Java and Linux developers to work closer together.

We recently announced a Linux community on java.net that will be lead by Chris DiBona and Art Gould with the intention of of bringing the Linux and Java communities together.

So, there are many reasons why Java and Linux haven't fully leveraged each other, but there are far better reasons for them to do so. Now, more than ever, the two communities have a lot to offer and gain by a closer alliance. Making Java more useful to the Linux environment would be a good thing.

Comments

• Great combination
  Linux is our company's main server target platform. With Debian, MySQL, JConnector and JDK 1.4.2 you can't get more stable than that =).

  There're however some outstanding bugs that are quite critical and not yet fixed by sun. How about a small yearly support fee, with paying customers getting more weight behind the bug reports? Java as a platform would always remain free of charge but one could buy premium support with some kind of guarantee that the submitted bugs would be addressed quickly.

  Posted by: nipsu on January 26, 2004 at 09:01 AM

• Great combination
  It is my hope that our new java.net Linux community will be a good place for people to share work arounds and air their thoughts on outstanding issues that need to be addressed by Sun and others. Start an "outstanding bugs" page on the Linux wiki .

  Posted by: daniel on January 27, 2004 at 04:07 AM

• Access to Linux internals
  There's not much, for an application developer prespective. to access for "Linux Internal". Linux is a Posix system, and it's desktop is X-based, like other Unix systems. Many proprietary Unixes (inclusing Solaris) announced Gnome will replace CDE as the default desktop. So any effort will benefit not just Linux, but the whole Unix community (including MacOS X users)

  Here's some resources about this (hey, I should have put then on the wiki!). I particularly like the first one:

  http://www.xenonsoft.demon.co.uk/products/javaunix/
  http://www.basepath.com/aup/jtux/
  http://www.hio.hen.nl/java/nl/nl/hen/ict/unix/package-summary.html
  http://ringlord.com/publications/jni-howto/
  http://pandonia.canberra.edu.au/java/posix/paper.html
  http://www.bmsi.com/java/posix/package.html

  Actually, there's lots of Posix-access libaries for Java, but I could find few things for Gnome/KDE access (Java-gnome, http://java-gnome.sourceforge.net is nice but too radical for Swing developers).

  But I think we really miss a JSR providing a standard API for Posix systemcalls and X-based desktops.

  Posted by: flozano on January 27, 2004 at 05:40 AM

• Open source has the solution (as allways)
  I think the solution to this woul be something like http://www.xwt.org/

  They provide rich client features on a thin client setup, true cross-plataform; yet they provide native performance and look-and-feel.

  I just wished the JCP paid more attention to open source viable projects instead of reinventing the weel (like the log API x log4j, JSTL x Struts, ...)

  If good open source produts got sancionted by the JCP and were delivered as standard components with Java2SD/EE distributions, Microsoft would not have gained its "easy of development / easy of installation" advantage
  

  Posted by: flozano on January 27, 2004 at 06:07 AM

• Sorry
  My last post should be on another forum... maybe Java.Net won't allow you to view different foruns, each one on a different browser window (or Mozilla tab)?

  Posted by: flozano on January 27, 2004 at 06:15 AM

• Java and Linux
  can i run java application on a linux based thin client i.e(before connecting to server). if yes how?

  Posted by: sankritpraveen on February 09, 2004 at 01:11 PM

• Can Linux supports GUI based java applications that are supported in Windows.I mean can I create application using java swing? or is there any difference in creating GUI in Linux?

  Posted by: kalyangk on October 27, 2004 at 04:23 AM

• 1) sankritpraveen asked:

  "Can I run java applications on a linux based thin client (i.e. before connecting to the server)? If yes, then how?"

  I need to know more details or an example about what you mean by a "linux based thin client". If the client supports a kvm or jvm, then yes. This also includes if it is browser based and the browser supports Java.

  2) kalyangk asked:

  "Can I create Swing applications on Linux or is there a different way for creating GUIs in Linux?"

  You can use Swing on Linux. The JRE should handle all of the display details (i.e. X Windows, etc). Both of these questions are great questions for the java.net linux community.

  Posted by: jbob on October 27, 2004 at 08:09 AM

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