So Apple finally got around to releasing Java 6 for OS X.
Pity it’s Leopard only, but better than nothing (I really have to get around to upgrading).
This Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 1 adds Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_05 to your Mac. This update does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 5.0 or change the default version of Java.
An interesting bit of digging on damnhandy into the WWDC session list points out that Java on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) is going to sport a 64 bit Java VM, along with Swing support for the new Leopard UI features. The WWDC notes are pretty brief and just buried in the general session listing page, so details are still sketchy.
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The interesting thing damnhandy points out, is that seeing as Leopard Java (Java 6?) is going to be 64 bit, it probably won’t run on Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4). That’s kind of a shame, but it’s better than nothing. I posted a few weeks ago that as a developer, I just want something that lets me develop Java code for other platforms and could care less about Swing support for the new Leopard UI. I wish Apple would either release Java 6 that runs with Tiger (even without Leopard support), or release the source to OpenJDK if they aren’t going to maintain it.
The session took place at 9am PDT (about 7 hours ago). Haven’t been able to find any details yet as to what was in it, but will update when info become available.
Update - actually, there was no new info. So Java 6 on OS X is still out in the wilderness…
Developing Java apps on Mac OS X is pretty nice in general: The tools are as good, if not better than other platforms (having a proper command line beats Windows any day); compiling and execution runs fast enough; and the hardware and the OS itself is a pleasure to use.
My only complaint, and one that is getting a bit of noise, is that there is no production release of Java 6 available. Sure, there is a preview version from months ago. But the final version has more than a few differences in the API, and I’m guessing a stack of defect and performance fixes as well.
The rumor is that Apple is not releasing Java 6 till Leopard ships (around October). Supposedly so Java 6 on OS X will support the Leopard look and feel. Which is a pain in the neck - I couldn’t care less if Java 6 looks like Leopard. To be honest it’s a pretty small minority that must use it as a runtime environment. However OS X must get a lot of use as a development environment. Most of the development I do is for apps that are going to run on Windows anyway. Surely Java 6 could just be released first, and then a separate look and feel plugin for Leopard released after the fact? (it’s not like that is all that hard with Swing)
The rumors about Leopard are just that - rumors. There hasn’t been anything official from Apple saying what the release schedule looks like.
Simon Brocklehurst sums it up:
What is particularly frustrating, however, is that Apple remains totally silent on their Java strategy. When will Java 6 see a production release on MacOS X? With the Leopard release? Somtime in 2008? In 2015? Never? No-one has any idea; and Apple isn’t talking - not to developers; not to customers; not to anyone.
Now, however, the OpenJDK project is… well… open! The Java platform is moving full steam ahead to Open Source under the GPL. All of which begs the question is: will the Apple developer community decide to build their own up-to-date version of Java that runs on MacOS X? If Apple would only make their Java strategy clear, it might help the community figure out if that’s worth doing or not…
I can live with delayed releases, but it makes planning development a bit more difficult when you’re playing guessing games. A little more certainty would be nice.
A while ago I posted Parallels RC2, Boot Camp, Windows XP, OS X - One Happy Family On My Mac, which was about installing a single Windows XP image and being able to run it either through bootcamp or parallels.
One of the issues I came across was that Parallels wouldn’t start up if you had an NTFS/FAT32 (aka Windows formatted) external drive attached - such as an ipod or a USB keyring drive. If a drive was plugged in, Parallels would refuse to start up and would display the cryptic message "More than one Windows partitions are found. This is not a standard Boot Camp configuration". Judging by the number of Google search hits I get searching for that term, it seems a lot of people have had the same issue (the work around was just to unplug the external drive before starting Parallels).
The good news is that Parallels Desktop Build 3188 has been released, and this issue seems to be fixed. There is probably a whole bunch of other cool stuff in there as well, but I couldn’t see any obvious release notes, and I don’t have any worries apart from that.
I’ve been using Parallels for a while now to run Windows on my iMac. It’s good for day to day work type stuff. We write client/server software with a Windows client, and PL/SQL Developer is one of the best Oracle developer tools, but is Windows only. However, for more graphically intensive, interactive, networked applications its performance is a bit below par - by which I mean it doesn’t work.
Up until now I’ve had to scavenge around the office and camp some random, vacant low-spec PC when the after hours LAN sessions start. Its a little frustrating when my Mac box has enough grunt to run the games we play (mostly the ‘old but good’ titles from a few years back).
Enter Parallels RC2 (build 3150), with the nice feature of being able to run a Boot Camp Windows install in a virtual machine in OS X. After a couple of hours all the pieces are in place and living together like one big happy family - or at least one of those families with the weird distant relative with stability issues and poor hygiene that everyone awkwardly puts up with on occasions when they have to interact with them, but really can’t stand them (I’m looking at YOU Windows).
End result is that you’ve got a single Windows install, but with the option of booting it to either run natively via Boot Camp (with PC-level performance for Windows apps), or to run it as a VM via Parallels (can run alongside OS X in a window)
The install was pretty straight forward. The Boot Camp docs explained the steps nicely. Once the Boot Camp install was done, its a simple matter to import it into Parallels. All up the install process only took a couple of hours - most of that was installing Windows.
The only trick is deciding whether to format the Windows partition with FAT32 (can see drive from OS X, 32GB limit), or NTFS (larger drive size, better disk usage). I ended up going with FAT32. Maybe I’ll change that latter, but it’s going to require deleting the partition with Boot Camp, recreating it, and reinstalling Windows
Sticking all these round pieces into square holes is handled pretty well by both Parallels and Boot Camp. They’ve both done an admirable job of making it as seamless as it is, however there are a few quirks along the way
All up I’m pretty happy with the set up. Gave it a blast with some Quake 3 action last night and had a great time. Admittedly it’s a pretty old game, but it ran flawlessly with a great frame rate at highest detail. Now I just gotta get in some more practice to not get my butt handed to me by the guys in the office (I beat all the bots though 
)
Environment setup is one of the worst aspects of software development. You can get all hyped up about the latest and greatest technology and techniques, but at some point you’ve got to get your environment set up so you can use them. I’ve spent a good part of this afternoon trying to get Ruby to work with an Oracle database on my Mac OS X box.
Simple huh? Nope. Mostly just old fashioned pain.
A bit of googling initially pointed me to the ruby-oci8 project, which provides a Ruby library for Oracle. I happily download and started working through the install instructions which involves compiling the library. Fine - except for the compilation problems. Seems my Oracle Instant Client install isn’t quite complete.
Next step is a trip to Oracle’s website, which is an altogether separate exercise in frustration - after eventually reviving my developer login (with the help of mailinator and Borat), I stumbled around clicking through a “terms of use - sell your soul agreement” for every… single… page… I eventually find the download I’m after. Cool.
I try to compile ruby-oci8 again, but this time I come up against:
Oracle doesn't support intel mac.
http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/223854
There are three solutions:
1. Compile ruby as ppc binary.
2. Wait until Oracle releases mac intel binary.
3. Use a third-party ODBC driver and ruby-odbc instead.
http://www.actualtechnologies.com/
By this time about 2 hours have gone by, and hair is being pulled out in clumps. Admittedly I would have known this if I’d just read the platform specific issues on the ruby-oci8 site.
By now it’s 6pm, and the evening round of CS is starting up. I’ll save this one for tomorrow. Maybe I’ll play around with ODBC, or possibly try using a JDBC driver and using JRuby instead.
The ironic part is that I’m just wanting to "quickly" mock up some code to test out something that will later be implemented properly in Java (oldschool, heavy Java). At this rate it probably would have been quicker to do something quick and nasty in Java and be done with it (which isn’t *that* bad with Eclipse). Lately though, I’m shuddering at the thought of file after file of needless case handling, redundant interfaces, xml config files, and over engineered Sun APIs - even for simple stuff. Environmental pain is probably the lesser of two evils in the long run.