Java problem

[Lamar Owen]

On Thursday 03 January 2008, Les Mikesell wrote:
> I'd just like some truth-in-advertising here.  Don't call it java until
> it is - and realize it is just as damaging as if would be if someone
> replaced your /bin/sh with an incompatible replacement.

LOL.

Having a moderately complex (2.9MB .war) java applet/servlet combo in 
production here, I laugh at this.  Sun's Java isn't even compatible with 
itself!  (JRE 1.4 -> 1.5 broke our app; 1.5->1.6 broke our app; etc)

So, Les, just what is 'java'?  Which version?

Hrmph, I've seen numerous Java apps and applets that work fine on a 1.4 JRE (I 
even have one app, quite old, that requires a 1.3 JRE) and will not even 
start with 1.5, much less 1.6 or 1.7.

So, again, what IS 'Java' and how does one measure compatibility?

Oh, and just because you have a 'compatible' /bin/sh doesn't mean your shell 
scripts will run.  Shell script compatibility depends upon having the same 
set of shell library commands available; this can vary even between one 
Fedora 8 install and another one.  So /bin/sh compatibility is a strawman, as 
100% shell script compatibility doesn't exist (just try to run an old .shar 
that needs uudecode on a modern Linux).
-- 
Lamar Owen
Chief Information Officer
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu