[solved] arch - update and java

Following Oracle's purchase of Java (2010), Java users can't be certain when Oracle attorneys or developers might make users' lives uncomfortable. If one wants Java functionality however, Oracle can't be avoided entirely. I am not a lawyer, but Oracle's open-source version of Java, OpenJDK, may be the most legally prudent Java option. That said, not every application plays nice with OpenJDK, of course, or Oracle wouldn't be able to profit from licensing its more user-friendly proprietary versions of Java.

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What has the above meant to me operationally? When upgrading Arch with OpenJDK onboard, I've sometimes experienced conflicts which required a solution of, 1) uninstalling Java, 2) running the Arch update(s), and, 3) reinstalling or upgrading to the latest OpenJDK.

Arch update Java conflicts may look something like these (during pacman -Syu):

error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/java exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/keytool exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/orbd exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/pack200 exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/policytool exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/rmid exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/rmiregistry exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/servertool exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/tnameserv exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/bin/unpack200 exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default exists in filesystem
java-runtime-common: /usr/lib/jvm/default-runtime exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

The shortest path appears to be removing "java-common". Not so fast: OpenJDK requires java-common as a dependency; pacman typically will not allow its removal. The solution is to remove OpenJDK (at this writing version 7), update the system, and then reinstall OpenJDK:

# pacman -Rns jre7-openjdk
# pacman -Syu
# pacman -S jre7-openjdk

Applications (eg, geogebra, icedtea-web) that bark at this removal may also have to be removed prior to the Arch update, and then reinstalled (after jre).

location in system

$ ls -an /usr/bin/java
/usr/bin/java -> /usr/lib/jvm/default-runtime/bin/java

$ locate /bin/java
locate /bin/java
/usr/bin/java
/usr/bin/javaws
/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/bin/java
/usr/lib/libreoffice/ure/bin/javaldx
/usr/share/icedtea-web/bin/javaws

$ ls /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
IcedTeaPlugin.so libflashplayer.so [missing java-plugin libnpjp2.so]

# find -name libjava.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/libjava.so

You can't find libnpjp2.so because you don't have normal java installed. Typically, you make a soft link between libnpjp2.so and the mozilla plugin directory. But in this case WITH OPEN JDK, our java soft link for mozilla (when we need it) is the icedtea plugin so we're actually set. All you have to do is go into "Add-Ons" in your browser and enable/disable it.

LibreOffice

After an Arch OpenJDK update, the LibreOffice portion sometimes still will notice you...

Optional dependencies for libreoffice-still
java-runtime: adds java support
java-environment: required by extension-wiki-publisher and extension-nlpsolver

...telling you for sure LibreOffice didn't detect OpenJDK. I opened LibreOffice -->Tools --> Options --> Advanced.



I selected the radio button for the Oracle option and then "OK". These actions seemed to activate Java.

Blackboard and Pipelight apps

Only Firefox has the stuff needed to process Moonlight, instead of Silverlight. Software must be installed that allows geolocating and so forth. These can be turned on and off by creating a softlink.

On the Blackboard account, also use Firefox (JRE).

ln -s /usr/lib/pipelight/libpipelight-silverlight5.1.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libpipelight-silverlight5.1.so