[kaffe] Kaffe CVS: kaffe jim

[Patrick Tullmann]

Jim wrote:
> Does anybody know if the class format actually changed?  Or if there
> are any changes in behaviour that depends on the version number?

There are changes for JDK1.4 listed here:
	http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/compatibility.html#incompatibilities1.4

There is nothing explicitly mentioned about the class file version
change.

The only potentially interesting change for Kaffe (other than a couple
static final int "constants" that have changed!) may be #9 where it
says that classes compiled against interfaces no longer have default
versions of those methods inserted.  (I'm not sure if Kaffe depended
on this behavior or not.  I don't think it did.)

Assuming that list of changes is exhaustive, I don't think there are
any major problems with allowing code from recent javacs.  (Perhaps a
warning, though, as some of the problems with changed static finals
could be really subtle and ugly.)

I assume the class file version number is controlled by the javac
'-target' options.  Look at the "Cross-compilation" section of Sun's
javac doc:
	http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/tooldocs/solaris/javac.html

-Pat

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Pat Tullmann                                       tullmann at cs.utah.edu
      That which does not kill you just didn't try hard enough.