Linux version for J2EE development

[johaananan brownaaaa]

Hi there,
I am really confused to decide which version of Linux should I choose to start developing j2ee applications (i.e using JMS, web services and ejb). I got redhat enterprise server which was crap cause I had to register it to be functional otherwise it will be installed by its core client/server features. I am just wondering what would be a less-hassled distribution of linux for j2ee development. cheers

[Hussein Baghdadi]

I think any Linux distro should servers you well.
My vote goes to Ubuntu or Debian.

[johaananan brownaaaa]

ideally, it should work on all of the distribution, but have you tried to install IDE or Sun Application Server on those distributions, and faced with weired problems! I mean I want some advice for a less-problematic distribution!

[Joe Ess]

Originally posted by Pouyan Farhani:
I got redhat enterprise server which was crap cause I had to register it to be functional

Oh, yes, getting a fully supported operating system from an industry-leading company is just terrible. :roll:
RHEL is targeted at server-class machines that require stability, security and support. There is a cost associated with providing such an OS, and RedHat is quite reasonable when you take those features into account.
There are several community-supported reconstitutions of RHEL available, like CentOS and Scientific Linux that have very good reputations.
Do you have a platform that you will be deploying your applications on? It would probably be best to emulate that platform closely to avoid conflicts. Sure, it would be great if it worked on ALL distros, but do you know how many there are?. Support a reasonable subset. That's what the big application vendors do (Sun, Oracle, etc.)

[Jesper de Jong]

Isn't Fedora more or less the free version of RHEL? Fedora is backed by Red Hat.

I'm using Ubuntu myself and it works great.
[ February 29, 2008: Message edited by: Jesper Young ]

[Joe Ess]

Originally posted by Jesper Young:
Isn't Fedora more or less the free version of RHEL?

The way I understand the Red Hat line is that RHEL is a server-oriented distro and it is not provided "free" (as in beer). The source code is provided in accordance with GPL ("free" as in liberty). The "reconstituted" distributions like CentOS and Scientific Linux use the source code and remove dependencies on RedHat-copyrighted/trademarked resources like images of hats.
Fedora took over where Red Hat Linux (the RedHat-supported desktop distribution) left off when it was discontinued in 2003. It's stated goal is to remain cutting-edge, so it is a little less stable than, say, Ubuntu, which tries to have a stable and well-tested desktop distro.
Fedora is community-supported with help from Red Hat. What Red Hat gets out of the relationship is a testing ground for packages that will eventually be incorporated into RHEL.
I've been using Ubuntu Fiesty for a while now and I'm happy with it. Gutsy is unusable on my hardware.

[Tim Holloway]

Java works just fine on Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, SuSe. That's just for starters. Red Hat-like installations can use an RPM to install it, but there's no major magic in the RPM - it's exactly like getting the bin install and placing the jdk in a directory named /usr/java (plus, of course, the product gets recorded in the RPM database for management purposes).

If you actually wanted to pay Sun for support, you'd need SuSe or RHEL, but a lot of us are using it just fine in a non-pay context.

Speaking of automated installation, DON'T attempt to use the "gcj" Java that comes with many distros. It's not complete enough to support J2EE or Swing apps. If it gets installed, ignore it and hook in a genuine Sun JVM or equivalent.

[Jesper de Jong]

Originally posted by Tim Holloway:
Speaking of automated installation, DON'T attempt to use the "gcj" Java that comes with many distros. It's not complete enough to support J2EE or Swing apps. If it gets installed, ignore it and hook in a genuine Sun JVM or equivalent.

Yes, until Sun Java is 100% open source (I guess we'll have to wait until Java 7 is released), it will not be included as the default version of Java in most Linux distributions. The GNU Java that's included with most distros today is a very slow and incomplete implementation of Java 1.4, and you don't want to use it. Unfortunately it is installed by default on Ubuntu and it causes problems for many users...

Fortunately it is easy to install Sun Java on Ubuntu, the latest version of Sun Java 6 is in the Ubuntu software repository.
[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Jesper Young ]

[Guy Allard]

Originally posted by Joe Ess:


..... Gutsy is unusable on my hardware.

Curious? What hardware is not compatible?

Guy

[Joe Ess]

Originally posted by Guy Allard:

Curious? What hardware is not compatible?
Guy

If I knew that, I'd probably replace it!
My computer is rock-solid running Feisty. I only shut it down to load a new kernel so I have months of uptime.
I tried both the Gutsy live CD and a local Gutsy install and both suffer from random hangs. I'm not the only one:
Gutsy will just freeze / lock up / crash
Gutsty Gibbon - constant random freezing/lock-ups.
I didn't see any quick fixes in the forums so I reinstalled Feisty (don't get me started on Ubuntu's requirement of wiping the install drive - the one with my home directory on it!)
[ March 04, 2008: Message edited by: Joe Ess ]

[Hussein Baghdadi]

Originally posted by Tim Holloway:

If you actually wanted to pay Sun for support, you'd need SuSe or RHEL, but a lot of us are using it just fine in a non-pay context.

Ubuntu is becoming officially supported by Sun.
http://www.sun.com/software/linux/index.xml

[Jesper de Jong]

I found Red Hat's page about the difference between RHEL and Fedora.

Have a look at http://distrowatch.com/ for comparing the many Linux distributions.