[RFC] Would there be a need for a java-wrappers package?

[Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha at cs dot nyu dot edu>]

Hi, all,

I would like to hear opinions on how useful a java-wrappers package would
be.  The package will contain a few shell scripts that allow users to
invoke the regular Java SDK tools (java, javac, javadoc) from Cygwin,
making them look like their Unix counterparts (i.e., POSIX filenames).
The scripts would be updated versions of those posted in
<http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2003-01/msg00174.html>.

There are a few reasons why I have misgivings about this.  First off, some
tools (notably Ant and Tomcat) recognize Cygwin and do something specific
to Cygwin anyway, which will probably (most likely) get screwed up if the
java they find looks like a Unix version (this did happen to me with Ant
and Cygwin-native jikes).  Secondly, the tools will certainly not be
foolproof (although I'll try my best to make them as robust and autonomous
as possible).  Thirdly, java versioning may become a problem.

Besides which, there's a procedural stumbling block in that all of my
packages so far have been binary packages, and I'm not too sure exactly
how to release a no-source one.

For most of the above reasons, this is not an ITP yet.  FWIW, I'm also
planning to package jikes (which compiles OOTB) at some point soon, but
I'd like to first work out, among others, the Ant bug mentioned above.

Thanks for your (eventual) input,
	Igor
-- 
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