Common problems with Ubuntu

[geoffrey mendelson]

On May 11, 2010, at 2:52 PM, Dotan Cohen wrote:
>>
>
> Ubuntu packages three Javas, but only the Sun Java has any worth. The
> other two only serve to mess up Sun Java installs. Stay away from
> them.
>


Ouch, that brings back another UBUNTU problem. It does not install  
Java (are most programs) in /usr/bin. It installs them in /usr/bin  
under another name, or eleswhere. Then it links /etc/alternatives/ 
<name> to them. Then it links /usr/bin/<name> to /etc/alternatives/ 
<name>.

For example:

 >ls -l /usr/bin/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Mar  2  2009 /usr/bin/java -> /etc/ 
alternatives/java
 >ls -l /etc/alternatives/java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 Oct 13  2009 /etc/alternatives/java -> /usr/ 
lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java

Lots of extra overhead and confusion.

It even is worse because for simple binaries, such as mpg123 it does  
it too. If you want to have mpg123 and mpg321 both installed, it won't  
and gets confused. To answer the question before it is asked, I need  
mpg123 as there is a bug in mpg321 and it was easier to use the other  
program than go through the bug tracking system for a bug I'm probably  
the only person who ever noticed.

Geoff.


-- 
geoffrey mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM Jerusalem geoffreymendelson at gmail.com
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge  
or understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the  
situation. i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found  
in the Wikipedia.