64 bit applets

[Tim Frost]

Ken,

On Tue, 2009-07-14 at 22:26 +0000, Ken T. wrote:
> I'm working under Hardy right now, although this annoyance my convince me 
> to upgrade before long.  Unfortunately I don't see a sun-java6-plugin 
> package.  I have a 64 bit intel chip, not AMD, but as I recall that 
> doesn't matter most of the time.. does it here? 

AMD vs Intel chip is not the problem.  In general, 64-bit code will work
on either AMD or Intel 64-bit CPU.  I understand that the compilers will
generate 64-bit code that is either manufacturer-agnostic, or will do
"the right thing" for the CPU it is running on.


The fact that the distribution is Hardy, rather than Intrepid or Jaunty,
IS significant. The 64-bit sun java plugin wasn't released for hardy,
because of the timing of the Sun decisions about java and the plugin.
icedtea6-plugin (which is the Java plugin from the open-jdk package set)
might work, but there have been a number of issues/bugs with that (eg
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-6/+bug/344705).

>  
> 
> I tried using java-package but that doesn't recognize the new plugin 
> file. 

That isn't surprising, since java-package is a tool to convert a java
distribution archive to a debian/ubuntu .deb file


>  
> 
> I also tried making a manual link from /lib/mozilla/plugins to my JDK 
> installation directory.  
> 
That depends on 32-bit vs 64-bit versions being appropriately installed
in the file system (32-bit in /usr/lib32, for instance) of the 64-bit
system.  It also assumes that 64-bit firefox can correctly invoke 32-bit
code if required.



Tim

> 
-- 
Tim Frost <timfrost at xtra.co.nz>