Java - pdftk/bootchart dilemma

I love pdftk in Hardy http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/pdftk.html but in Karmic 9.10 it is a large 60+MB download due to the openjdk dependency.

I don't need openjdk as I have the latest sun-java-jre (_17). Unfortunately the developers are not going to ever update the old and unpatched sun-java6-jre (_15) inthe repo. and, as far as I know, as from this Karmic release and in the future ONLY openjdk will be available.

As pdftk now depends on openjdk I suppose I could not simply remove openjdk and get pdftk to use sun-java instead.

BTW. Same situation with bootchart in Karmic.

There were problems in the past with openjdk and the advice was 'always use Sun's java'
If anyone has 100% success with openjdk please tell.

An alternative that I could use instead of pdftk is pdfsam which has a GUI and can be used for merging and splitting pdf's.

 

You could download and install sun java and then set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to where sun java is installed first. Might work ... not sure if all the libraries used by either of the two are identical.
Mrk

 

6.16 is in Lucid, not sure if 6.17 will make it in or not. Also worth checking to see if any patches have been backported.

 

Once again something new I haven't done before Do you mean something like this ?

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/java/jre1.6.0_17
pdftk

Actually I would rather refrain from experimenting - (No VB yet in my Karmic) - for obvious reasons

I was hoping that I could install the openjdk version alongside sun-java and then simply do a sudo update-alternatives --config java and select the sun _17 version. Do you think that might work ?
If not then I will just have to make do with OpenOffice and Gimp and forego merging pdf's. (and posting any bootcharts)

Pdfsam looks quite nice but also needs openjdk. http://www.pdfsam.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

Yes, that's it. I would first check if there's anything under library path (echo it) to see what gives. Should be clean. So yes, that's it. Try that.

Another option is to keep a dummy open java dir and symlink to sun java, but again, not sure if all the libraries are compatible. Try it - in VB!

Mrk

 

Thanks. While all this advice helps my learning 'some Linux' tremendously, I am still a novice looking for the easy way out. In this connection I am pleased to advise that before trying the above, I have in the meantime found an excellent program called Pdf-Shuffler, which is python based and only 90 odd KB !
Can merge/split/delete/shuffle pdf's and drag and drop into GUI from desktop. Sure it misses some of the great features of pdftk but I like it primarily for it's extreme ease of use and simplicity. Works a treat and it's in the repositories.
Here's a screenshot.

 

I decided to download pdftk (comes with openjdk) and all's well. I set Sun's java as default when I installed the binary several weeks ago, and it's still the default. pdftk works well - it must be using Sun's java I presume. Not ideal as I now have both openjdk and Sun's jre.
(Can't uninstall openjdk as it will take pdftk with it).
What the heck, at least I can do watermarks/stamps once again. Sshot.

 

To know what java pdftk is using, first find where its binary sits:

which pdtfk --> you'll get something like /usr/bin/pdftk

Then, run ldd <binary>, like:

ldd /usr/bin/pdftk

And this will show you all the libraries its using, so you'll know if you're using openjdk or sun java.

Mrk

 

Thanks. I should have thought to use ldd ...(stupid me ).
Anyway, unfortunately it uses openjdk libraries judging by the output:-
linux-vdso.so.1 => (0x00007fff977ff000)
itext-2.1.5.jar.so => /usr/lib/gcj/itext-2.1.5.jar.so (0x00007f8f36d77000)
libgcj.so.10 => /usr/lib/libgcj.so.10 (0x00007f8f33c16000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f8f33906000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f8f336ef000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f8f334d3000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f8f33164000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007f8f32ee0000)
librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0x00007f8f32cd8000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0x00007f8f32ac1000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f8f328bd000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f8f37684000)

Will just keep both versions for now.

 

You can now use debian commands to see which package provides the libraries. I don't remember the exact flags, but in rpm, you have --whatprovides. Something along those lines.
Mrk

 

I have tried the depends and rdepends commands - see sshot. To me it looks like pdftk is 'hot-wired' to use openjdk despite Sun's jre being set as default. I hope my conclusion based on the sshot is valid.

 

Seems so ... now test machine, remove openjdk, install sun and see what happens. See if pdftk continues to work.
Mrk

 

Done that, but as mentioned before, removing openjdk takes pdftk with it. Reinstalling pdftk even from Ubuntu's site (not Synaptic) also installs openjdk again.
Not to worry. I am OK - my browsers are all using Sun's jre, and pdftk is happy with openjdk. No probs. no conflicts.
Your advice always appreciated.

 

I can't see any references to openjdk in that screenshot ?!?
jdk stands for java development kit and that looks like some java compiler libs, sun also has jdl libs.
All openjdk stuff is packaged as openjdk* in Deb/untu.

 

Yes understood, but I installed Sun's jre to /opt/java/ so I thought it would be contained there as it were, hence my deduction that only openjdk's install is responsible for that package.

Edit: I have a lot to learn - just checked and gcj-4.4-jdk is not installed at all, so would mean back to square one - but some other time seeing all is working well.

Thanks for the guidelines.