debian: mimic redhat installation strategy

[staylorx]

I was updating a RedHat server and the latest JDK7 updated as expected, set itself as latest and default (as expected since I set that flag). However, it removed the existing JDK version. It still works for what I need it to do but I expected the new JDK would be set as latest and the old version would remain.

Thanks for all the hard work. Steve

[steenzout]

@staylorx for Debian-based systems I believe the packaging is done differently so I can have 2 versions and the default makes sense.

on RedHat systems I'm installing a RPM so installing a newer version will replace the older one.
I'd need to use a tarball and make some extra configs to support multiple versions.

[staylorx]

I think I went down a path with the set-default flag thinking that might keep the older one. But I get it now. Thanks for jumping on this so quickly. Amazing.

[steenzout]

It's a valid point and I'll keep the issue open.
I'll probably release a v5 version of this role that just uses tarball and installer (which means it would work for all platforns, even Mac).
Problem is time to do it :)

[pjmorr]

Will you (did you) keep a flag if you actually want it to remove older versions?

[steenzout]

No.
I believe it requires a new implementation of this role that doesn't use a debian package to install JDK and it's not a priority for me.
Feel free to make a pull request and I'll check it out.