Re: Patch: Remove fastjar

[Paolo Bonzini <bonzini at gnu dot org>]

> Ideally, I'd like to get rid of fastjar.  It should be replaced by a
> wrapper on top of java.util.zip and java.util.jar.  I assume this is
> what Sun does.  Is there any reason to not do that?
>
> For bootstrapping, we can use zip/unzip if an installed jar isn't
> available.  Though I'm not sure why we need either.

I agree that using zip, or even better zlib's minizip (zlib is built for 
the host), can be a very good solution for bootstrapping.  Another 
possibility would be to write "jar" as a shell script wrapper around zip 
or minizip.  I'm sure that's possible.

I concur with Andrew that removing fastjar, without providing a 
replacement "jar" program at least for the simple host==target 
combination, is a step backwards; I would say it is a blocker for 4.2.

I understand that the SC made the request; on the other hand, as far as 
I understood fastjar's presence was not illegal per se, just not blessed 
by the FSF.  I think that since we are in stage 3 the right way to 
proceed would have been:

a) to block 4.2 until after fastjar was removed or the FSF accepted it, AND

b) to delay fastjar's removal until a "jar" replacement was provided, 
again at least for the host==target combination.

Paolo