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Debian GNU/Linux Java FAQ.
Chapter 5 - Status of Java in Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (Etch)

The Etch release was the first one to provide Sun's JDK environment without the need to download it from third-party repositories (see Java 5 and 6, Section 6.3.1).

As part of the effort to move Java packages to main, 36 new Java packages were moved to main after being built with free Java development tools. Notably, ant (a Java-based build tool), libstruts1.2-java (a MVC framework), tomcat5 (a Java servlet engine) and eclipse (a developer's environment platform) have been moved to main. For the full list see the Debian wiki.

5.1 Which Java package are currently in main?

At the time of writing, 209 Java packages were found in main, of which 119 were Java libraries. To see the list of packages in main (i.e., not contrib and non-free), try:

     grep-available -F Depends -sSection,Package java | paste -sd "  \n" | \
       grep -v contrib | grep -v non-free | sort

There are additional packages in the contrib section which can be found with a command similar as the one above.

The pkg-java website also maintains a list (probably more up to date) of java packages.

5.2 What keeps Java packages out of main?

An overview of packages that are still not in main is found at the Debian Wiki site: MovingToMain.

The current status, as of this writing (june 2004) is that there is progress of moving packages that use Java but can be run without the aid of non-free software from contrib to main. A number of packages have been moved to main and new releases of GNU Classpath, SableVM, and Kaffe promise further steps ahead. Two of the major issues currently being looked at are making gjdoc a proper javadoc replacement and building ant with Free Software only. People wanting to help can start by inspecting packages labeled as unknown on the Java to main wiki

5.3 What can I expect in future releases?

In November 2006 Sun announced that Java would be open sourced under the GPL and provided source for the javac compiler and HotSpot virtual machine. Sun published their Java sources under the name OpenJDK. Some 4% are missing from the sources, for which Sun has not the copyright themselves. The remainder of the JDK source will be published in 2007. Debian has a roadmap to publish all of Sun's opensource Java technologies as described in the Debconf7 talk: OpenJDK and the Free Java Packaging Roadmap.

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Debian GNU/Linux Java FAQ.