Using Red Hat Fedora with release number is 2.6.11-1.1369_FC4smp.
Where (which directory) does the two linux native files go?
If helps using Java version 1.5.0_03-b07.
You can put them wherever you like. You just need to point to them when you start your application, something like
java -Djava.library.path=/path/to/native/lib/directory -cp /path/to/jogl.jar -jar myApp.jar
Apparently you can also put them somewhere in the jre installation and have them recognised automatically, but almost everyone will tell you that this is a bad idea.
You can also put them somewhere that is pointed to by your
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
environment variable.
For example, I put them in /usr/local/lib and I set up the environment variable like this:
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:/opt/wxGTK/lib
Some JREs also have an extensions folder, which you can use. The most likely location for this being $JAVA_HOME/extensions, where $JAVA_HOME is the location of the Java installation.
Do the natives files go into Lib Path as a *.jar or do I pull them out of the jar as individual *.so files?
I think that you have to pull them out of the jar. At least, that’s what I do.
But I always wonder why the precompiled binaries come packaged in a jar from the jogl site. Something to do with webstart? Simple convenience?
I have always wondered that too. Given that a JAR is essentially a ZIP by another name, surely giving it a .zip extendiom would make it clear to more people that you need to extract the files.
It’s so that we have exactly one distribution mechanism. The jar file is ready-to-go for Java Web Start and happens to be a handy container.
The section “Local installation for development” in the JOGL User’s Guide (linked to from the JOGL home page) should describe how to install the native libraries on all platforms for development. Please post or file a bug with the JOGL Issue Tracker if you have suggestions for improvement of this documentation.