Netbeans and Java implementations

[kbl at adept-hosting.net]

On Sunday 22 June 2008 14:35:00 Pablo L. Berdaguer wrote:
> Hello,
> I installed the sun-java6 packages and Netbeans IDE... but the netbeans
> package from ubuntu repositories depends on the onpenjdk-6-jre packages.
> Why is that? Do I really need openjdk if I already have the sun
> implementation installed? How can I manage to delete the openjdk while
> keeping netbeans?
>
> Thanks

I don't know this package specifically but I would think you will need some 
form of JDK. JRE is the run-time environment and JDK is the development kit. 
You need *a* development kit to work with the IDE. So, logically, you will 
need the openjdk package. I don't know if the sun-java6 packages you 
installed include a compatible jdk but I'm assuming openjdk *is* a dependancy 
of Netbeans.

Package maintainers don't usually include something unless it is truly a 
dependancy.

Now, the Netbeans website (http://www.netbeans.org/features/java/index.html) 
doesn't specifically mention openjdk as a dependancy but at the bottom of the 
page it lists openjdk as a *companion* project. This leads me to believe that 
you will probably want to install it.

Its best to at least install the dependancies with the program and then 
consider whether it can be reconfigured to use alternative preferences.

Hope that helps.

- ken