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64-Bit Java For Linux

Posted by kdawson on from the tipping-point dept.

LWATCDR writes "First we got 64-bit Flash; then the beginnings of 64-bit Wine; now Sun is providing a 64-bit Java plugin. For most people there is nothing to hold you back from running 64-bit Linux."

10 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. 64 bit Java? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Linux has had 64 bit java for donkeys years... *rereads summary* - oh, Java browser plugin. A piece of the 90s I was hoping we'd all left behind.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
    1. Re:64 bit Java? by this+great+guy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Linux has had a full-featured 64-bit Java plugin that even includes LiveConnect support for at least months via IcedTea, a special build by Red Hat of the official OpenJDK source tree. For example Ubuntu 8.10 ships this 64-bit plugin as the icedtea6-plugin package, which I have been using for the past 2 months. And, no, I am not talking about the GCJ or Blackdown Java implementations which are significantly more buggy or incomplete (lacks LiveConnect support).

      What is new today is that Sun just released a development build of Java 6u12, build b02, which includes the 64-bit plugin. However technically we still have to wait for a couple months before 6u12 is officially released. But again you can already get a 64-bit plugin based on essentially the same source tree via IcedTea.

    2. Re:64 bit Java? by glwtta · · Score: 4, Informative

      And this story is only important if somebody out there has a burning need to run a 64bit Java app... in a web browser.

      Actually, the way I understand it, it's for those who want to use the plugin with a 64-bit browser (I didn't realize that was not possible until now). There's no such thing as a "64-bit Java app", only 64-bit JVM implementations.

      Can anybody name a good reason to develop new code in the environment? Yes a lot of legacy stuff was created in the 1990s while Java was the new shiny for people too blind to see (or with a PHB too blind...) the myriad problems but new projects?

      You're joking, right? Java Applets are dead and buried - and with good reason, they were a horrible hack from the beginning - but Java itself is one of the most important languages we have.

      I know Java-bashing is a popular Slashdot pastime, and certainly it's not the most exciting and sexy language out there, but it's popular for a reason. It's got its share of problems (gasp! something that isn't perfect!) and more that its share of outdated myths (gasp! modern JVMs perform well!), but it strikes a pretty good balance between abstraction, performance, and complexity (much as I hate to use this argument, not every programmer out there is a rock star).

      I really want to hear what you would recommend as a wholesale replacement for Java. I'm pretty sure I don't know of anything that's as broadly applicable.

      (Plus, with projects like Scala and Clojure it's looking increasingly like the JVM isn't going anywhere any time soon, regardless of Java's fate)

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
    3. Re:64 bit Java? by psetzer · · Score: 4, Informative

      I wait with bated breath for a hyperlink that I can click on to play an Ajax version of Quake 2. Until then I'll just have to make do with http://www.bytonic.de/downloads/jake2_jogl11.jnlp instead.

      --
      "Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is living in a state of sin." -- John von Neumann
  2. 64-bit and 32-bit binaries by robo_mojo · · Score: 5, Informative

    For most people there is nothing to hold you back from running 64-bit Linux.

    Lack of 64-bit {Java,Flash,Wine} doesn't hold you back from 64-bit Linux. A decent Linux distro can handle both 64-bit and 32-bit binaries.

    1. Re:64-bit and 32-bit binaries by aled · · Score: 4, Informative

      This one: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4802695 more: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/redhat-fedora-linux-help/50082-64-bit-java-plugin.html

      --

      "I think this line is mostly filler"
  3. OpenJDK already 64-bit by thule · · Score: 4, Informative

    The article implied that IcedTea (OpenJDK) is already 64-bit. My system reports the plugin as a 64-bit shared object. This release from Sun just makes it part of the official Sun Java download.


    $ rpm -ql java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin-1.6.0.0-7.b12.fc10.x86_64

    /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/lib/amd64/IcedTeaPlugin.so

    $ file /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/lib/amd64/IcedTeaPlugin.so

    /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0.x86_64/jre/lib/amd64/IcedTeaPlugin.so: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped

  4. Re:Developers section red now ? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, if it were running on 64-bit java instead of 64-bit perl, it wouldn't - java ints are still only 32 bits in "64 bit java.

    Someone forgot to future-proof their language. 10 years from now, when you're running a 128-bit cpu with a quarter-terrabyte of ram, those 32-bit signed ints are going to look mighty quaint. "What do you mean, I can't store the [file size|number of inodes|ipv6 address|whatever] in a 128-bit int? What do you mean, 128-bit java doesn't have 128-bit ints? You're shitting me, right? This is 2018 ... what's gonna happen in 2038 - we gonna have a 2k38 java problem? No? Why should I believe you? You can't even right-size your ints ..."

  5. Re:no DEB files? by tyrione · · Score: 4, Informative

    What is it with large corporations and only creating RPM files for their software? I got the .bin file, but it just extracts to the current directory, without listing where all the files need to be copied to...

    The simplest thing you could do, is use the "alien" package to convert it to a .deb file. The alien package manager works, most of the time, and it beats using cpio to extract the rpm file and repackage it as a deb.

    As for where the Java files go, they usually go under /usr/lib/java or /usr/lib/jre if I recall correctly.

    Alien is not going to fly as Debian is in the midst of moving Lenny out the door and this would first start in Experimental, then move to Unstable/Sid, which need to make sure they are lintian clean. I'm going to file a reportbug on this with the owners of openjdk-6 and get this moving into an update to the openjdk-6 all around.

  6. That's a good thing - trust me by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Write some stuff in C#/.NET sometime. Especially the embedded version. You'll see why. Every time MS puts out some patch...stuff breaks. Why? Because they do crap like this.

    I have an embedded platform that has the .NET 2.0 binaries on it, as well as a 3.5 version. And I had to hack that one in from binaries from Visual Studio manually. The 2.0 binaries don't run on 3.5. The 3.5 binaries don't run on 2.0. It *sucks*.

    So - if you suddenly doubled the size of an int it would break backwards compatibility and do this sort of horrible crap to Java. People who use java 1.2-1.6 would need their 32 bit ints. If you wanted the same box to run your 64 bit int Java, you'd need two sets of binaries. And a way to switch between them.

    Trust me, you don't actually want this.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.