32-bit sun-jdk 1.4.2 works for amd64

[Sir No]

Hello there!

Now I must admit that I'm very much surprised. For about a year I was almost sure that it's impossible to install JDK 1.4.2 from Sun on amd64 arch. IIRC all that emerge was telling me, assured me that there are not enough compatibility libraries which would allow me to run 32-bit Java.

Now it has changed. I unmasked "-*" sun-jdk-1.4.2.10 and it emerged well! Better yet, it worked! And now I'm happy (I think ).


Two things motivated me:

• some good man created an emul-linux-x86-java package (based on 32-bit Blackdown Java, but anyway)
• I wanted desperately to see one particular site, completely flash-based

So I asked Google for "gentoo 32-bit chroot" as I remembered that this was a way to run 32-bit binary firefox with flash and java. Eventually I didn't do the 32-bit chroot at all. Instead I've finished with just these two articles from gentoo-wiki.com:

• HOWTO_AMD_64#Macromedia_Flash_and_Java_Under_AMD64_with_firefox
• HOWTO_Install_firefox_with_java_on_amd64

Especially the last one gave me the incentive for trying. I asked myself: what is the reason for doing a manual installation of 32-bit JDK, when there is one in portage already? And since emerging 32-bit firefox-bin proved to be succesful (it worked without any problems), why shouldn't 32-bit java run correctly as well?

So, eager to try, I unmerged first all the JDKs and JREs, including emul-linux-x86-java (I needed that step because I wanted firefox-bin to use only Java 1.4.2_10 plug-in, and I added back other 64-bit JDKs/JREs later). Then came the fun part. I added:

Code: Select all

=dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2* -*

to /etc/portage/package.keywords file. Then:

Code: Select all

# emerge -av =sun-jdk-1.4.2*

and all of a sudden it installed. Trying:

Code: Select all

# java-config -L
# java -version

assured me that Java 1.4.2_10 was working fine on my amd64 Gentoo.

I added the symlink in the firefox-bin plugin directory, started firefox-bin and went to the Test Java Virtual Machine site. I was assured once again that the java plug-in worked correctly. Installing flash plug-in as described on gentoo-wiki.com was a breeze.

Then I emerged back 64-bit blackdown-jre and blackdown-jdk, as well as 64-bit sun-jdk-1.5.0.06. This way I restored the previous state of my system. Now my 64-bit firefox uses blackdown-jre plug-in, while 32-bit firefox-bin uses sun-jdk-1.4.2.10 plug-in + netscape-flash. And the life is bright again.

All in all, this proved one thing to me: that 32-bit emulation in Gentoo works REALLY well.

But what surprizes me the most is that unmasking some 32-bit "-*" packages may actually work on amd64. This makes me wonder what other "unsupported on amd64/incompatible" 32-bit packages might be forced to work as well?

Disclaimer:
Of course, your mileage may vary or it might even break something in your system...
Don't blame me for it - the above worked for me and for me only (so far).

Cheers,
Sir No

[janiskr]

im using sun java 1.5.0 SDK and netbeans form java.sun.com suppose 32bit installed from bin bundle - works well
havent seen any problems

[Scott Thornley]

Sir No,

This was a timely post. Just the thing I needed to get java running.

I found though, that in package.keywords, I had to use

Code: Select all

 =dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2*        -*

Also, after I had started the process, I realized that all I really needed was the sun-jre-bin ebuild. One of these days, I might revisit and get rid of the jdk and use the jre

Regards,
Scott

[Sir No]

I found though, that in package.keywords, I had to use

Code: Select all

 =dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2*        -*

And you're obviously right. I wrote that without checking the file... my bad.
(I was so surprized/excited that I simply overlooked this)

I've already corrected my post. Thanks a lot!

[mog]

does this still work? I have made the changes as per this guide, but am still unable to install the sun-jdk-1.4.13 package.

emerge spits out the following error message

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies \
!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy "=sun-jdk-1.4.2.13" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2.13 (masked by: missing keyword)

For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or
refer to the Gentoo Handbook.

my package.keywords looks as follows:

Code: Select all

#
# Java packages
#

dev-java/java-config                                            ~amd64
dev-java/java-config-wrapper                                    ~amd64
dev-java/javatoolkit                                            ~amd64
virtual/jdk                                                     ~amd64
dev-java/sun-jdk                                                ~amd64
=virtual/jdk-1.4.2*                                             -*
=dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2*                                        -*
dev-java/java-sdk-docs                                          ~amd64
app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-java                               ~amd64
virtual/jre                                                     ~amd64
net-www/nspluginwrapper                                         ~amd64

#
# Window manager related packages
#

x11-misc/fluxspace                                              ~amd64

[SirYes]

does this still work?

I'm not sure, I don't run amd64 Gentoo currently. But I'm going to try to help anyway.

I have made the changes as per this guide, but am still unable to install the sun-jdk-1.4.13 package.

emerge spits out the following error message

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies \
!!! All ebuilds that could satisfy "=sun-jdk-1.4.2.13" have been masked.
!!! One of the following masked packages is required to complete your request:
- dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2.13 (masked by: missing keyword)

For more information, see MASKED PACKAGES section in the emerge man page or
refer to the Gentoo Handbook.

Just looking at the error you've quoted, looks like some packages should be listed in /etc/portage/package.unmask as well. Notably, "=dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2*".

Try adding it there, like:

Code: Select all

/etc/portage/package.unmask

=dev-java/sun-jdk-1.4.2*

and see if it works.

I've written this "guide" long time ago, and IIRC generation-2 java was still unstable then. Now times changed, but hopefully old portage tricks should still work.

Would you be so kind to post your results here?