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166 lines
6.2 KiB
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166 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
KAFFE v0.5p2 - A JIT and interpreting virtual machine to run Java(tm)* code
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===========================================================================
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This is Kaffe, a virtual machine design to execute Java bytecode.
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This machine can be configured in two modes. In one mode it operates as
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a pure bytecode interpreter (not unlike Javasoft's machine); in the second
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mode if performs "just-in-time" code conversion from the abstract code to
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the host machine's native code. This will ultimately allow execution of
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Java code at the same speed as standard compiled code but while maintaining
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the advantages and flexibility of code independence.
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What's new
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==========
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* Experimental optimisation for JIT code generation. This is currently
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enabled using the '-O' switch (just in case it causes problems).
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* Support for NeXTStep on the 386 and Sparc (experimental).
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* Support for Linux on the PowerPC (experimental).
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* Improvements to garbage collection. The old systems was recursive so
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could (and did) silently overrun the stack.
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* Improvements to the thread system. This includes the addition of threaded
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sleeps, and the threading of file I/O.
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* Lots of bug fixes (see ChangeLog).
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What can run Kaffe
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==================
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This version of Kaffe will run on the following platforms:
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i386 FreeBSD 2.x (interp + jit)
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" Linux 1.2.13 (interp + jit)
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" NetBSD 1.x (interp + jit)
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" Solaris 2.x (interp + jit)
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" BSDI 2.x (interp + jit)
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" Unixware (interp + jit)
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" SCO 3.2v5 (interp + jit)
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" NeXTStep 3 (interp + jit)
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" Windows '95 (interp)
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Sparc SunOS 4.x (interp)
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" Solaris 2.x (interp)
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" NetBSD 1.x (interp)
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" NeXTStep 3 (interp)
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PowerPC MkLinux (interp)
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Although the system is relatively portable, some machine and processor
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specific code is necessary. If operating in an interpreting mode, it
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is only necessary to supply thread switching code. This allows relatively
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simple ports of Kaffe to be made to new platforms.
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If operating in JIT mode, significant machine dependent code is required in
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order to provide the internal native code generator. Ports to new
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architecture are obviously more complex although the code generator is itself
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reasonably portable.
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Who can use Kaffe
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=================
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This version of Kaffe is distributed under a Berkeley style license.
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Essentially you can use Kaffe for both personal and commerical purpose, on
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its own or as part of another package (see license.terms for full details).
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Kaffe Web and FTP sites
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=======================
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Kaffe is available from various sites. The primary site is:
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ftp://ftp.sarc.city.ac.uk/pub/kaffe/kaffe-0.5p2.tgz
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Kaffe mailing lists
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===================
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A couple of mailing lists are available for information and discussion of
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the Kaffe project. There lists are:
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kaffe@sarc.city.ac.uk General Kaffe discussions
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kaffe-announce@sarc.city.ac.uk Kaffe related announcements
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To subscribe to these lists send a message containing the word "subscribe"
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to either:
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kaffe-request@sarc.city.ac.uk or
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kaffe-announce-request@sarc.city.ac.uk
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depending what you are interested in.
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You can also check out the Kaffe related web pages at:
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http://www.sarc.city.ac.uk/~tim/kaffe
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Running Kaffe
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=============
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This version of Kaffe is not supplied with a copy of Sun's class library.
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This can be obtained from Sun's JDK package (from http://www.javasoft.com) or
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pre-prepaired in kaffe-0.5p2-sun.tgz (from the usual Kaffe ftp sites).
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This version of Kaffe uses the class library from JDK 1.0.2.
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Before running Kaffe it is necessary to configure the environment.
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This requires the setting of CLASSPATH, KAFFEHOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
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For the standard installation these would be defined as follows:
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CLASSPATH=.:/usr/local/share/kaffe/classes.zip
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KAFFEHOME=/usr/local/share/kaffe
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LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib
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A file "ENVIRONMENT" is generated by the configure program which contains
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a /bin/sh environment setup. This may help you to figure out what to
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set to what if you alter the standard installation point.
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The source comes with a test program "HelloWorldApp" which can be found
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in the test directory in the distribution. After installation, run this
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program from the test directory by typing the following:
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cd <java source directory>/test
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kaffe HelloWorldApp
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This should load and execute the HelloWorld application. If all is well
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it will print "Hello World!". As a further test you might like to try
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compiling the HelloWorldApp source. To do this type the following:
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javac HelloWorldApp.java
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"javac" is a shell script which has been provided to invoke Kaffe on
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the standard Java compiler. If all is well, the application should compile
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without incident.
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The state of play
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=================
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Kaffe should run all non-graphical code which will run on a Java
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machine. However there are still bugs and plenty of untested native
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library functions. Some functions which are not currently implemented
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(most often because I don't understand exactly what they are suppose to
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do) will simply abort if called. If you can help out on any of these
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then please do *BUT* remember, this is a clean-room implementation (I
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have never seen any of Sun's Java source code) and I cannot simply
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encorporate Javasoft's* code.
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Kaffe is known to correctly run Javasoft's Java compiler "javac" (which is
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included in the classes.zip file and a shell script is included to help
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run it) plus a number of small test programs. However, other major
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programs have not been tested.
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Kaffe and Sun's Java
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====================
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Kaffe is a clean-room implementation of a virtual machine which can run
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Java bytecode. It is capable of interpreting code generated by Sun's
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software but has not been derived from any Sun code. Currently this version
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utilises Sun's freely available compiled class library but it is hoped
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that this will be replaced with a freely available version in due time.
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At the moment it is impossible to validate whether this software is
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Java compatible(tm) (the test suites are not publically available) and
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the terms under which this can be claimed are unknown.
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Erm, that's it ....
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Tim Wilkinson
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<tim@sarc.city.ac.uk>
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----
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* Java and Javasoft are registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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