Re: Should Automake still support Java?

[NightStrike]

On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 12:09 PM, Mathieu Lirzin <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello,
>
>    Currently Automake supports two ways of compiling Java code.  One is
> with the 'javac' compiler which is deprecated on the Automake side, and
> the other (the recommanded one) which uses GCJ.  Relying on GCJ feels
> outdated since GCJ has been removed from GCC since version 7 and is not
> distributed on recent Debian/Fedora/Ubuntu distributions anymore.
>
>    As a consequence, I am considering removing Java support.  Before
> doing that, I would like to consult others, particularly people who may
> still rely on those features.  My questions are the followings:
>
> - Should we remove GCJ support?
> - Should we remove javac support?
> - Should we undeprecate javac support?

Undeprecate, please.

I use automake's java support quite a bit, as I have numerous projects
that are mostly other languages, but that include some java utilities.
It is very nice to manage everything from a single autoconf / automake
setup.  In fact, we picked automake exactly because it supported every
required language.

Please do not remove this support.

> - When should it be done (1.16/1.17/...) ?
>
>    If some of you have still access to GCJ, I would be grateful if they
> could help with bug#24895 [1] which can't be adressed otherwise.
>
> Thanks.
>
> [1] https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=24895
>
> --
> Mathieu Lirzin
> GPG: F2A3 8D7E EB2B 6640 5761  070D 0ADE E100 9460 4D37
>