[kaffe] Kaffe for Java like language

[Dalibor Topic]

Kallol Borah wrote:
> Hi
> I am new to the Kaffe implementation. But I am interested to evaluate using
> Kaffe for a Java like language called Indus that I and a couple of
> colleagues have implemented for enabling ubiquitous computing. Indus
> compiles to Java bytecode and then further to C code (thats there to support
> Indus on embedded systems). In the case of compilation to byte code, we are
> using java libraries and the jvm now for testing. But soon enough, we have
> to enhance the java libraries and also change the library structure - we
> plan to do this by modifying GNU Classpath.

Cool. Thank you for using GNU Classpath!

> My question is : what is the Kaffe VM's dependencies on GNU Classpath ? 

It uses GNU Classpath for the core class libraries. There is a java part 
of the class library in GNU Classpath and a native library part (awt 
peers, for example). GNU Classpath has a VM interface which contains VM 
specific methods that allow the VM to supply its own implementation of 
core functionality. Kafefe uses that for a few things, for example, 
java.lang.Object. You can find the VM interface classes by looking for 
classes with names matching VM*.java.

Kaffe is almost fully merged with GNU Classpath, it only uses its own 
implementations for reflection, zip files, network devices and Strings 
these days. There are native and java parts of those 'overlays' to the 
classpath class libraries. There is a difference between kaffe 1.1.6 and 
Kaffe CVS HEAD, since GNU Classpath has been merged more directly into 
Kaffe now into CVS HEAD, rather than maintaining it manually mixed up 
with the rest of kaffe's class libs. But the general concepts should be 
the same. Feel free to ask specific questions, if you know what changes 
you'd like to make in advance.

> For
> example, if we change java.lang, how will Kaffe VM be affected ? If we
> identify places in the Kaffe implementation where these dependencies are
> used, it will help us a great deal to port Kaffe, if required.

You have to make sure that your native method signatures still match the 
expected ones, to make sure native library loading still works. And 
beside the classes in the VM interface, you can replace classes around 
quite freely, I believe. That's how the merge between Kaffe's own 
classlibraryand GNU Classpath was done, class by class, package by package,
with pretty good results.

cheers,
dalibor topic