JH_GENERATEORBITDIR(1)

📦
version 0.82 · 5 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💫 jh_generateorbitdir — bestie edition 💫

okay so this is jh_generateorbitdir(1), and it lives in the Javahelper manual, so like… it's a javahelper girlie through and through 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

jh_generateorbitdir — creates and populates an orbit dir that pde-build uses for third-party jar files 🫙✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

jh_generateorbitdir [debhelper options] [--orbit-dir=dir] [orbit-dep [...]]

like yes that's the whole vibe, no cap 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so jh_generateorbitdir is a javahelper program, and its whole main character job is handling the creation of an orbit dependency dir. and bestie, this directory has to be populated with non-eclipse jar files 🫶 but here's the plot twist: eclipse refers to these jars by their "symbolic name". not me having to hunt down a whole symbolic name 😭

good news: jh_generateorbitdir can extract that name straight out of the jar's manifest — provided it has the OSGi metadata — and then it creates a symlink to it. iconic behaviour tbh 🔥

now, the drama:

  • if regular files are already sitting in the orbit dir and they clash with the name of one of the orbit jars, jh_generateorbitdir will replace those regular files with symlinks. yeah. it's giving "moving on, respectfully" 💀
  • if an orbit jar name clashes with a symlink already in the orbit dir, then jh_generateorbitdir assumes that the given jar has already been symlinked correctly. and in that case the jar file is still recorded in the cache (see below, bestie 👀).

also!! on Debian systems it will check the default installation for jar files — at the time of writing /usr/share/java — if it can't find the jar in the current dir. so it goes looking for you, it's so thoughtful 🥹

and one more thing, super important: any jar files that got replaced by jh_generateorbitdir get recorded, so that jh_installeclipse can replace them with symlinks post install. teamwork!! 🤝

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • debian/eclipse.orbitdeps — a list of orbit dependencies, one per line 📝 you can use this as an alternative to passing the deps in per command line. so like, either vibe works, whichever you prefer bestie 💖

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • --orbit-dir=dir — specifies the directory from where the orbit-dir is (or should be) created 🗂️ defaults to debian/.eclipse_build/orbitdeps. the default!! don't forget it ✨

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

jh_generateorbitdir --orbit-dir orbit asm3 oro

so this one generates a folder called orbit with two symlinks — one based on asm3 and one based on oro's symbolic name. two symlinks, one slay 🦋💖

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

this program is a part of javahelper and uses debhelper as its backend. very "borrowed the aux cord" energy ngl 🔌

there are also tutorials in /usr/share/doc/javahelper if you want the full lore 📚 iykyk

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net> — the icon, the legend 🌟

Copyright 2010 by Niels Thykier.

this tool is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of GNU GPL 2. periodt 💅

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🫶 this was javahelper's 0.82 era, dated 2026-05-17, filed under the JH_GENERATEORBITDIR(1) manual. go make some orbit dirs, you've got this 💖✨🎀

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