[Slackbuilds-users] Oracle Java

[B. Watson]

On Sun, 16 Aug 2026, David Chmelik wrote:

> Except jdk SlackBuild hasn't been updated since 2024; now 80 minor versions behind jdk8u501 and no longer needs login to download (outdated README).  I don't know why
> java.com links one this old, or what depends on it, but if SlackBuilds.org has builds depending on it, they may want update.


By policy, nothing on SBo depends jdk or any of the other Oracle
jdk's. We settled on the various zulu-openjdk* as the dependency for
anything that requires Java.

This policy came into existence precisely because of the Oracle
"no direct download link; must register" policy. None of the admins
wanted the hassle of registering with Oracle, and to 100% comply
with their license, we each would have had to have a separate login
(due to their "no redistribution"; I couldn't download it and give a
copy to Willy, for instance). And even if you registered, there was no
direct download link, you'd *have* to use a JS-capable browser (hard
to automate, more hassle).

If Oracle's gotten rid of this, maybe we could rethink it, but I'm
against that. Things work the way they are now. I don't see any
benefit to switching working builds that use zulu-openjdk to using
oracle's jdk instead. Plus, who's to say Oracle won't change their
minds again and go back to the restrictive registration process?