If your port needs a Java™ Development Kit (JDK) to either build, run or even
extract the distfile, then it should define USE_JAVA.
There are several JDKs in the ports collection, from various vendors, and in several
versions. If your port must use one of these versions, you can define which one. The most
current version is java/jdk14.
Table 6-5. Variables that may be set by ports that use Java
| Variable |
Means |
| USE_JAVA |
Should be defined for the remaining variables to have any effect. |
| JAVA_VERSION |
List of space-separated suitable Java versions for the port. An optional "+" allows you to specify a range of versions (allowed values: 1.1[+] 1.2[+] 1.3[+] 1.4[+]). |
| JAVA_OS |
List of space-separated suitable JDK port operating systems for the port (allowed
values: native linux). |
| JAVA_VENDOR |
List of space-separated suitable JDK port vendors for the port (allowed values: freebsd bsdjava sun ibm blackdown). |
| JAVA_BUILD |
When set, it means that the selected JDK port should be added to the build
dependencies of the port. |
| JAVA_RUN |
When set, it means that the selected JDK port should be added to the run dependencies
of the port. |
| JAVA_EXTRACT |
When set, it means that the selected JDK port should be added to the extract
dependencies of the port. |
| USE_JIKES |
Whether the port should or should not use the jikes bytecode
compiler to build. When no value is set for this variable, the port will use jikes to build if available. You may also explicitely forbid or
enforce the use of jikes (by setting 'no' or 'yes'). In the later case, devel/jikes will be added to build dependencies of the
port. |
Below is the list of all settings a port will receive after setting USE_JAVA:
Table 6-6. Variables provided to ports that use Java
| Variable |
Value |
| JAVA_PORT |
The name of the JDK port (e.g. 'java/jdk14'). |
| JAVA_PORT_VERSION |
The full version of the JDK port (e.g. '1.4.2'). If you
only need the first two digits of this version number, use ${JAVA_PORT_VERSION:C/^([0-9])\.([0-9])(.*)$/\1.\2/}. |
| JAVA_PORT_OS |
The operating system used by the JDK port (e.g. 'linux'). |
| JAVA_PORT_VENDOR |
The vendor of the JDK port (e.g. 'sun'). |
| JAVA_PORT_OS_DESCRIPTION |
Description of the operating system used by the JDK port (e.g. 'Linux'). |
| JAVA_PORT_VENDOR_DESCRIPTION |
Description of the vendor of the JDK port (e.g. 'FreeBSD
Foundation'). |
| JAVA_HOME |
Path to the installation directory of the JDK (e.g. '/usr/local/jdk1.3.1'). |
| JAVAC |
Path to the Java compiler to use (e.g. '/usr/local/jdk1.1.8/bin/javac' or '/usr/local/bin/jikes'). |
| JAR |
Path to the jar tool to use (e.g. '/usr/local/jdk1.2.2/bin/jar' or '/usr/local/bin/fastjar'). |
| APPLETVIEWER |
Path to the appletviewer utility (e.g. '/usr/local/linux-jdk1.2.2/bin/appletviewer'). |
| JAVA |
Path to the java executable. Use this for executing Java
programs (e.g. '/usr/local/jdk1.3.1/bin/java'). |
| JAVADOC |
Path to the javadoc utility program. |
| JAVAH |
Path to the javah program. |
| JAVAP |
Path to the javap program. |
| JAVA_KEYTOOL |
Path to the keytool utility program. This variable is
availble only if the JDK is Java 1.2 or higher. |
| JAVA_N2A |
Path to the native2ascii tool. |
| JAVA_POLICYTOOL |
Path to the policytool program. This variable is available
only if the JDK is Java 1.2 or higher. |
| JAVA_SERIALVER |
Path to the serialver utility program. |
| RMIC |
Path to the RMI stub/skeleton generator, rmic. |
| RMIREGISTRY |
Path to the RMI registry program, rmiregistry. |
| RMID |
Path to the RMI daemon program rmid. This variable is only
available if the JDK is Java 1.2 or higher. |
| JAVA_CLASSES |
Path to the archive that contains the JDK class files. On JDK 1.2 or later, this is
${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/rt.jar. Earlier JDKs used ${JAVA_HOME}/lib/classes.zip. |
You may use the java-debug make target to get information
for debugging your port. It will display the value of many of the forecited
variables.
Additionally, the following constants are defined so all Java ports may be installed
in a consistent way:
Table 6-7. Constants defined for ports that use Java
| Constant |
Value |
| JAVASHAREDIR |
The base directory for everything related to Java. Default: ${PREFIX}/share/java. |
| JAVAJARDIR |
The directory where JAR files should be installed. Default: ${JAVASHAREDIR}/classes. |
When porting a Java library, your port should install the JAR file(s) in ${JAVAJARDIR}, and everything else under ${JAVASHAREDIR}/${PORTNAME} (except for the documentation, see
below). In order to reduce the packing file size, you may reference the JAR file(s)
directly in the Makefile. Just use the following statement
(where myport.jar is the name of the JAR file installed as part
of the port):
PLIST_FILES+= ${JAVAJARDIR:S,^${PREFIX}/,,}/myport.jar
When porting a Java application, the port usually installs everything under a single
directory (including its JAR dependencies). The use of ${JAVASHAREDIR}/${PORTNAME} is strongly encouraged in this regard.
It is up the porter to decide whether the port should install the additional JAR
dependencies under this directory or directly use the already installed ones (from ${JAVAJARDIR}).
Regardless of the type of your port (library or application), the additional
documentation should be installed in the same
location as for any other port. The JavaDoc tool is known to produce a different set
of files depending on the version of the JDK that is used. For ports that do not enforce
the use of a particular JDK, it is therefore a complex task to specify the packing list
(pkg-plist). This is one reason why porters are strongly
encouraged to use the PORTDOCS macro. This feature is yet well
documented, so you should refer to bsd.port.mk itself for
further information. Moreover, even if you can predict the set of files that will be
generated by javadoc, the size of the resulting pkg-plist advocates for the use of PORTDOCS.
The default value for DATADIR is ${PREFIX}/share/${PORTNAME}. It is a good idea to override DATADIR to ${JAVASHAREDIR}/${PORTNAME} for
Java ports. Indeed, DATADIR is automatically addded to PLIST_SUB (documented here) so you
may use %%DATADIR%% directly in pkg-plist.
As for the choice of building Java ports from source or directly installing them from
a binary distribution, there is no defined policy at the time of writing. However, people
from the FreeBSD Java Project
encourage porters to have their ports built from source whenever it is a trivial
task.
All the features that have been presented in this section are implemented in bsd.java.mk. If you ever think that your port needs more
sophisticated Java support, please first have a look at the bsd.java.mk CVS log as it usually takes some time to document the
latest features. Then, if you think the support you are lacking would be beneficial to
many other Java ports, feel free to discuss it on the FreeBSD Java
Language mailing list.
Although there is a java category for PRs, it refers to the
JDK porting effort from the FreeBSD Java project. Therefore, you should submit your Java
port in the ports category as for any other port, unless the
issue you are trying to resolve is related to either a JDK implementation or bsd.java.mk.
