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« Build on the Java... | Main | cu @ j1 »
20070423 Monday April 23, 2007

NetBeans in Ubuntu

Last week we announced the availability of the Java Stack on Ubuntu and one of the coolest parts of this announcement is including NetBeans in Debian native packaging. NetBeans has been available in a standalone Linux installer for many years. What's new now is the integration with the Debian packaging system which can, among other things, automatically pull in dependent packages such as the the NetBeans Platform and the Sun JDK.

During our development of this packaging we discovered some legacy license terms that complicated redistribution. That caused us to create a temporary "installer" workaround that requires users to download the NetBeans IDE tarball prior to installing the Ubuntu packages. The NetBeans legal team went to work and updated the terms and we updated the packaging... but our fixes didn't make the feisty code freeze :-( . You will be glad to know that we do have the fixes in hand and are proceeding to follow the Ubuntu update process that will, in a couple weeks, get the revised packaging into the feisty-updates repository (which is on by default).

The real NetBeans package

If you would to take advantage of this fix right away (so you don't have to download the tarball separately) here's how:
  1. Start Synaptic by going to: System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager
  2. Select the menu: Settings | Repositories
  3. Click the Ubuntu Software tab and enable multiverse (screenshot below)
  4. Click the Third Party Software tab and click Add... (screenshot below)
  5. enter the following APT Line: deb http://download.java.net/ubuntu/ feisty/
  6. Click Add Source (and Close)
  7. Click Reload (to update the Synaptic with the latest repository information)
  8. Add NetBeans as one would add any other package: Search for "NetBeans"
  9. Select "netbeans5.5"
  10. Click Apply

The Details

Here's some additional documentation about adding software to Ubuntu:
  1. What is Synaptic and how can I add software to Ubuntu?
    See Synaptic and the Synaptic HOWTO
  2. Where can I learn more about Ubuntu Repositories?
    Ubuntu Repositories (see Managing Repositories in Ubuntu)
  3. Hey, Synaptic doesn't know about this Tom Marble fellow, can I trust him?
    Only you can determine if you trust me :-)
    You can see other's that have signed my GPG key here.
    If you decide you want to trust me then you can add my GPG key to APT so you don't get the warning in the future.
    Add the package gui-apt-key then run it:
    • Applications | System Tools | APT Key Manager
    • enter Key ID: 0x1EABA9CB
    • click Add
  4. Where can I find out more about APT and security?
    See SecureApt
  5. Hey, how can I make sure that the Java™ Plug-In works with Firefox?
    Simply add the package sun-java6-plugin
  6. This is nice, but I found some other problem... what should I do?
    File a bug! That's how the team will know what works (specifically what doesn't) and we'll fix it. You can file netbeans5.5 packaging bugs on this page.

Thank you for your patience on our trajectory towards Free Software. We have even more ideas in store for packaging cool Java applications for Ubuntu! If you are interested in helping and/or getting involved please let me know... it takes a community!

Screenshot of adding the multiverse component to Ubuntu:
Add more Ubuntu Components


Screenshot of adding a new Ubuntu repository:
Add an Ubuntu Repository


NOTE on submitting comments: The Roller software we use here at Sun is quite aggressive about which comments it likes. Please be patient if your comment which includes HTML is not displayed immediately. I will ensure it gets published the next time I check e-mail.

Posted by tmarble ( Apr 23 2007, 09:34:51 PM CDT ) Permalink Comments [8]

Comments:

Hi tmarble, I would be glad, if I could help somehow. You can find me at #ubuntu-java as vil.

Posted by vil on April 24, 2007 at 05:49 AM CDT #

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the place to ask - but is there a reason that the glassfish packages of the Java stack require sun-java5-jre, and not sun-java6-jre, or atleast "sun-java5-jre | sun-java6-jre" ? I installed version 6 of the jdk, but now glassfish forces me to install version 5, which is less than optimal... Ciao.

Posted by Arik Kfir on April 24, 2007 at 06:25 AM CDT #

Hi Arik I have posted a blog at http://blogs.sun.com/harpreet/entry/glassfish_on_ubuntu_with_jdk which talks about this issue. Brief takeaway: You can run GlassFish with JDK 6 but you cannot get away from the requirement on JDK 5. Thanks Harpreet

Posted by Harpreet Singh on April 24, 2007 at 04:12 PM CDT #

Tom, that's a crazy font you have going on there!

Posted by Patrick on April 26, 2007 at 05:36 AM CDT #

Thanks for this post, it helped me installing NetBeans 5.5 on Feisty.

Posted by tatare99 on April 27, 2007 at 10:13 AM CDT #

Thanks Tom, this is great news. Can you point me to a guide to packaging Java apps for Ubuntu?

Posted by Jem on April 27, 2007 at 06:22 PM CDT #

Jem, please take a look a at http://www.debian.org/doc/maint-guide/ https://help.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/packagingguide/C/

Posted by vil on April 28, 2007 at 01:43 AM CDT #

@vil

Thanks very much for your offer! Yes, I've seen you on #ubuntu-java. Perhaps the most important thing right now is take good notes at UDS with doko in Sevilla and keep me posted (as I'll be at JavaOne that week).

@Patrick

Yeah, it's Zekton (a personal favorite). The package which has it is ttf-larabie-straight.

@tartare99

This is a fantastic idea (to have this well documented) and I know there are some Java related pages on the Ubuntu wiki. In the next couple of months I hope to document packaging Java apps for Debian/Ubuntu and also for Fedora and Gentoo. See my previous blog entry about the DevJam about this (and stay tuned for vil's updates from UDS).

--Tom

Posted by Tom Marble on April 29, 2007 at 07:09 PM CDT #

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