kaffe porting

[Patrick Tullmann]

> 1) If data type sizes in the compiler do not have enough precision as
> expected by the java(for example long is 64 bits in java and there
> is no equivalent data type in the c compiler) then how to implement
> this extra precision.

This would be tough, as the 64-bit integer 'jlong' is used quite a bit
in the VM.  Look at kaffe/include/jtypes.h to see what has worked on
other platforms.  You could grep through the sources to see if fixing
up operations on jlong can be changed manually (I would guess its a
big job, though.)

Does the iPaq toolchain support 64-bit integers?

> 2) If there is no malloc() support from the compiler/OS can we follow
> some strategy to manipulte the statically allocated memory?

The kaffe run-time is pretty clean about doing all of its allocations
through the GC.  You could probably get the GC to use statically
allocated memory (instead of sbrk'd memory) pretty easily.  I belive
others have done this (or something similar).

> 3) If the file system support is not there providing some hooks in
> the memory (with the help of simulator) can kaffe be used to load
> ROM loaded class files.

This shouldn't be too hard.  All the file system accesses are
indirected through the jthread layer.  

> 4) Can we provide some alternative if posix compliant signals and
> non-blocking i/o are not present with the toolset.

Look at FAQ/FAQ.jsignal for details on signal usage in Kaffe
(specifically with the jthread threading layer in Kaffe).

> 5) If the DLL facility is not provided can we follow some strategy to
> statically link native methods? If so, will there be any security
> issues?

Creating a statically linked VM is a configure time option
(--enable-static and --with-staticvm).  Its not that easy, as libtool
requires being able to read its .la files for the statically linked
libraries in any case.

> If anybody has some directive links for some/all the questions
> please do help me.  has anybody already ported kaffe to one such
> environment?

I belive Kaffe has been ported to a couple of small environemnts.
www.pocketlinux.org is probably the one receiving the most attention.
(Perhaps the pocketlinux version of Kaffe would make a better starting 
point?)

-Pat

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Pat Tullmann                                       tullmann at cs.utah.edu
    Not many people realize just how well known I am -- Anonymous