There isn't much choice of software for designing stripboards for electronic circuits. Most of it is for plain boards which need to be etched.

There is a package called DIYLC Layout Creator (DIYLC) which is written in Java. I know nothing about Java and had nothing to do with creating it. However, with permission from the author, I have supported it in a small way for Linux by creating a .deb package which was available on GetDeb before the demise of that site. Submission to Debian is beyond me as I know no Java and am baffled by Debian bureaucracy.

My deb package worked fine up to Ubuntu 19.04 but seizes up on 19.10. Is it likely that anyone could have a look at it to find out what the problem is? This is an excellent package for which I have never found an alternative and I am sure it would be snapped* up by Ubuntu users if made available.

*Pun unintentional - I have looked at making a Snap but it's completely beyond me.

https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator/releases

I think the program is hanging in lib/app-framework.jar/update/org/diylc/appframework/update in UpdateChecker.class or UpdateChecker$1.class
due to some problem checking the web for updates. The program will also hang earlier in the startup process if I disconnect the Internet, so I suspect that in both cases the program waits for Internet access with no timeout to escape if connection fails.

Not an answer to your question, but perhaps a viable alternative...
https://sourceforge.net/projects/veroroute/

@ferrari I've been looking at VeroRoute recently, it has some advantages. It can load a netlist, but it can't do so from my schematic/simluator tool of choice and doesn't seem to work very well from my second choice. It also does automatic routing, but that's very complex and requires a lot of work. For my simple requirements it's easier just to add the components and place them myself - and DIYLC is extremely good at that, so I'll have to persevere with it. I think the developer works on it in bursts of activity, so I'll have to wait for that, or for someone who knows Java to have a look at the code.

Frankly, I was a techie who built on veroboard for years back in my hardware R&D days, and I'm amazed that there's not one but two utilities for designing with the stuff.

In my limited experience, it's the java interpreter that seems to change most, but if you trap an error from it, and attach some relevant code, people will probably be able to hack a way out of it. You're putting the onus on us to do the donkey work for you, and things don't seem to be happening for you that way.

There's huge issues with designs on vero or stripboard. Frequency response, crosstalk, power handling, internal resistance, capacitance, voltage insulation, dampness, heat, and I've even hit inductance issues. Then it oxidizes big time lying around, so I used to start by going over it with a glass fibre brush to polish the copper. Then the way you had to lay the circuit out was controlled by getting the board to behave under stress. If someone could write a utility to encapsulate all of that, he was goo

I know of at least three, stripboard is very convenient for a hobbyist.

I've had that sort of problem with something which would run on the official Java, but not the distribution's default (or vice versa) before. Can I install more than one and define which to use on the command line?

The last message before it sticks is:What I've found so far all looks like bytecode (is that the right word?) to me. I'll have to dig around on GitHub to see if I can find the source.

I really don't think the sort of circuits I'm using are sophisticated enough to care

Sure. Get source versions and compile them with different prefixes. I always found java a major pain, but limit the stuff I use.

I'd never trust an app to design stripboard unless I knew it was real smart. I used to work in R&D, and Stripboard was a way of testing ideas which could be quite varied.

Sorry, I've no idea what you mean.

I agree, I tried a Windows one many years ago and it didn't have a clue. I think it's probably a highly complex task which needs artificial intelligence.

Yes I can see it would be quicker than etching a board, although there are breadboards available now which might do the same job.

get a few source code java packages of different versions. Compile them with different install prefixes.
In one use ./compile --prefix=/opt
In Another, ./compile --prefix=/usr/local
In another again, ./compile --prefix=~/

It's possible to do that sort of thing. I've had 2 (and once 3) versions of awkward programs until the software sorted itself out.

There's other prototyping systems - wirewrap, etc. I think it needs some intelligence if you're ambitious. I once had to recreate a dc current transformer design for a single phase on stripboard. At it's heart was a round ferrite core with two 15 turn windings and a single turn of the (heavy)current being sensed. It had a bistable which switched on one 15 turn core, waited until the core saturated a certain amount (Measured by a drive current resistor), then knocked it off, and switched the other winding on. With no current at all being measured, the duty cycle was 50%. With current through thesense winding, the duty cycle changed. Drive current was recovered from the duty cycle. But fancy me mounting 2 15 turn windings with a centretap, and 1 pass of 100A cable through this unfortunate ferrite core! I'd like to see any Java sort that out.
Back in 2013, my last stripboard prototype was an Opto Amplifier featuring an SOT23 HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor). I managed that by slitting a track at the narrowest part of a hole with a scalpel blade and putting one leg either side of the slit, with one on the adjacent track. They all got a few mm of solder paste. So I could melt one end, lift the iron & watch the paste melt along until it fixed leg to track. I feel you will do better developing expertise yourself. It's your

@business_kid I've only ever got that compile thing to work once, when I was given line by line commands which for once didn't have any typos.

I suppose I did things the hard way - LFS, HLFS, (When it existed), then the Kevux scripts(When that existed), /then promoting myself to Slackware which has a DIY attitude. If you run './configure --help |less' in one terminal and read, while writing the ./configure command in another, you can usually make a fair attempt. I find cmake and these half-assed building systems more troublesome, but that's lack of effort on my part.

All I got was a whole load of tildes and (END).

Well, without seeing your source or build system I can't say much. If you have the source code, it's set up with some build system Configure scripts are most common, although cmake and others are becoming popular.

The answer was that the Java version was too old. Why did I have the old Java version? I installed Ubuntu 19.10 at the beginning of the month, but it doesn't install Java by default. I then ran a batch file to install loads of software - but that doesn't install Java. I can only guess that it was installed as a dependency of some of the software that I installed.

In future I will know to check the version with
and if it is too old, install the default version with

Glad there's an answer.