I've got Mandrake 9.2 installed (hoping to upgrade to Mdk 10). Unbelievably, it doesn't have a java compiler --not already installed, and not available on the CD-ROM to be installed if I so wish. Furthermore, it's not in the usual RPM repositories.

Why not?? I would have thought this was even more significant than Python, which is already on the system. There is an "unofficial" Java machine, Kaffe, that can run Java programs, but not a compiler. That's pretty useless. That's like saying, "I don't have a car but I do have a road so if and when I get a car, I have a place to drive it."

Where do the rest of you folks get your Java compilers? Any RPMs to point me to? Recommendations also welcome from the apt-get and YaST folks.

Eager to learn Java programming ...

Hey Man!

Yeah i had the same problem, i just when to <a href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html"> Java Suns Website
May haveto leave it overnight. The file is over 90 mb. But it's good!
.Murbz

Actually, it should come with a java compiler. Gcc has an implementation of Java called gcj (also called gcc-java) which compiles java code to machine code.

It can as well compile your code to java byte code, so you can run it within the Java Runtime Environment.

It's a bit limited at the moment though: No support(?) for Swing or AWT classics, so you pretty much can forget about all Java's Gui's.

Some distros come with Java compiler (javac from Sun) as SuSE 9.1 and Slackware 9.1(?).

But every reply is here is right though: You'd better off downloading the Sun's JSD and installing it. It's pretty easy to install, but you may need to set up PATH variables. Just search the forum about how to do it, or post here if you don't find it

Good luck!

Yes, Slackware 10 comes with Java SDK. You may want to install jikes because it is a lof of faster.

Thanks for all the replies. I also did some digging and found out that the Kaffe package also does include a java compiler, and has since v1.0.5. Since I have v1.1.1 on the Mandrake 9.2 CD #2, I installed it. To invoke it, use the "kjc" command.

I saw the "gcc-java" command, too, but on perusing the documentation, it seemed to be merely some liaison between C and Java. I mean, "gcc" is "GNU C Compiler", right? Wouldn't they call it "gjc" or something?

I'll try out Kaffe. Since I hope to upgrade soon to Mdk 10, I'll wait till I install that to check out whatever version they have on there, and if it's insufficient, then I'll install Sun's compiler, which apparently is closed-source, no?

As far as i know, the java programming language was created by sun microsystems and is closed source, so the java SDK from java.sun.com is the only real java compiler, period. Most distros don't include it because they like their entire distro to be open source, and also since it is quite large. There are many free java IDE's that sit on top of the java SDK, such as JCreator and Eclipse.