How to package Nuxeo DM, a Java EE application, in Ubuntu?

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 12:06:14AM +0100, Stefane Fermigier wrote:
> Here are some thoughts and questions about how to package a Java EE application so that it can be accepted in partner.
> 
> We have packages that have been created a few months ago, and would be really pleased if they could be included in Natty, so your help would be really appreciated.
> 
>   S.
> 
> --
> 
> # Problem statement
> 
> We want to package Nuxeo DM (see: www.nuxeo.org), an open source (LGPL) document management solution developed using Java EE, for Ubuntu (and Debian, and other Linux distributions).
> 
> We have created packages 6 months ago, that have been perfected with the help of our user community:
> 
> http://blogs.nuxeo.com/fermigier/2010/07/debian-and-ubuntu-packages-available-for-nuxeo-dm-532-stable.html
> http://blogs.nuxeo.com/fermigier/2010/12/new-beta-nuxeo-dm-package-debian-ubuntu.html
> 
> We are fully aware that our packages are not built in a way similar to the way a Linux package is usually built (i.e.: ./configure ; make ; make install). But we believe that:
> 
> 1. We don't have another reasonable choice for how to build these packages.
> 
> 2. The issues (and discrepencies with the packaging guidelines for Ubuntu or Debian) are not specific to our project, but common to every project that uses Maven (which seems to be the most popular build tool for Java projects these days) as its main build tool, and more generally to every large-scale Java EE application (such as: XWiki, OpenBravo, Compiere, Open-Xchange, OBM...).

Thanks for getting in contact with us and taking the time to explain your
situation in detail.

Thierry Carrez did a good job of explaining these issues from the Ubuntu
perspective in
http://fnords.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/the-real-problem-with-java-in-linux-distros/

The status quo is far from ideal, and we're interested in finding ways to
make it more acceptable for both developers and distribution integrators.
Robbie (CCed) is a good person to talk to about next steps.

-- 
 - mdz