[kaffe] 1.1.0 development release + ideas
Jim Pick
jim@kaffe.org
02 Jul 2002 15:08:41 -0700
Hi,
Now that 1.0.7 has been released, we can get on with development. I'd
like to leave the spotlight on 1.0.7 for a few days, and then I'll cut a
1.1.0 release from out of CVS (I won't test it a whole bunch, I'll just
make a release).
I'd like to see the 1.1.x releases happen every few weeks or so
(depending on the amount of development activity).
Eventually, we'll wind things up, and try to do a 1.2.0 production
release. But I don't see that happening for a while (maybe 6 months).
In the meantime, we could always backport a few changes and make more
1.0.x releases.
Some things I'd love to see happen:
* New build system
- I've got a more modular build system semi-built that I designed
for KaffePro. It's very modular, bits are checked into different
CVS modules, and combined using CVS's "ampersand modules" feature
(in CVSROOT/modules). There are separate modules for the core vm,
io libs, core libs, security, networking, awt, command line, etc.
- The first thing that happens in the build process is that a
"bootstrap" version of kaffe gets built (for the host platform),
using a fairly conventional configure/make type process. After
that, the build process is done from a (still somewhat crude)
Java application, called "kaffe-buildtool".
- kaffe-buildtool will support interactive configuration (similar
to Linux's "make menuconfig" or "make xconfig"), so it will be
possible to tune Kaffe to specific environments or applications
(eg. cross-compiling subsets for embedded uses). (WARNING! I'm
not a great Java programmer, please don't laugh at my code)
- because the build process is Java driven, there is no need for
Makefiles outside of the stuff needed to build the bootstrap.
The logic currently encapsulated in libtool/automake/libltdl
gets moved into the java build tool. This will make maintenance
much easier.
- the class libraries will be built at runtime. We shouldn't have to
check anything other than a few bootstrap classes into CVS if we
require the use of jikes (for releases, we can ship a pre-built
Klasses.jar with enough classes to run kjc).
- unfortunately, the build system I've got so far (that I did for
KaffePro) is only partially complete, and isn't quite ready to
replace what we've currently got. I'd like to check what I've
got in to get some feedback, but it's not good enough yet that
it could be used to replace the current build system without
breaking most ports. So I'm going to do development on the build
system in parallel with our development releases, until it's
ready to be merged in.
* Automated regression testing
- I had set up a multi-platform regression testing rig for KaffePro
back at Transvirtual. I'd like to do something similar (sort of
like TinderBox) on kaffe.org. The scripts will need to be somewhat
different since the machines won't all be on the same network (my
old scripts did most of the work over NFS). Something like this
would be invaluable, since it's there are so many ports.
* Classpath
- With the more modular build system, and interactive configuration,
it should be possible to incorporate more work from third-party
free software projects. Classpath is licensed as GPL+Exception, so
we can use their code (on a case-by-case basis). Future development
of the class libraries could be directed to the Classpath project,
so other VM's (eg. ORP, gcj, Kissme, etc.) would benefit as well as
Kaffe. For example, I'd like to see JavaSound implemented, so I
could try JavaLayer (a 100% Java MP3 library) - it would be nice to
do that via Classpath. In some cases, Classpath won't be able to
take some code (eg. pure-GPL code, like Transvirtual's AWT code) --
we could host those libs ourselves on a mix-and-match basis.
* PocketLinux Kaffe merge
- There was a lot of good stuff that Transvirtual released as part of
their PocketLinux version of Kaffe. For example, they had an AWT
that ran on the framebuffer, as well as various changes to the core
vm and JITs for MIPS and ARM that worked quite well, as well as
ports to several proprietary RTOSes. I'd like to migrate some of
that work into our version.
* More ports
- There are a lot of ports and patches that haven't been merged in
yet. I've got patches for SH and MIPS in my queue, and there are
more exotic things like CRIS out there. Plus there's a lot of
bitrot that needs fixing, and some architectures that have working
interpreters could use a JIT. I'd like to see the Windows CE port
go in, plus BeOS, and some of the RTOS's from the PocketLinux
version. It would be nice to see pthreads brought up to the same
level as jthreads - maybe we could get some better interoperability
with JNI code written for other VMs in that case.
* Documentation!
- Kaffe is still a fairly simple VM to work with, and could be an
ideal platform for people trying to do research or just trying to
learn how a VM works. Unfortunately, Kaffe doesn't come with much
documentation. There is some documentation out there, but it's
scattered all over the internet. It sure would be nice if we could
check some nice documentation into CVS beside the source code. I've
got some ideas on how to lay it out, and I'm willing to write some
of it.
* Precise garbage collection (non-conservative)
- Kaffe's garbage collection works, but it's fairly crude, and it
can't use relocating/copying schemes. Work needs to be done on
the code generated by the JIT and the native interfaces in order
to enable us to build in more advanced, better performing,
generational-style GC systems. It would be nice if we could
support some interoperability with plug-in GC modules from other
free software VMs, such as ORP or Jikes RVM.
* gcj integration
- Some work was done on allowing kaffe to use classes and methods
pre-compiled to native code using gcj. It would be nice to dust
this off and update it.
* Specification writing / Mauve / Standards work
- I've got some ideas for a project that would build a set of
specifications for free software virtual machines, along with a
compatibility test suite to certify virtual machines against
those specs. Unfortunately, Sun only certifies Java virtual
machines through the Java Community Process (and charges $$$ for
the JCK). I don't see why we can't make our own set of specs
that are meant to be interoperable with Sun's, but which are
legally compatible with the needs of the free software community.
We'd use Mauve as our equivalent of the JCK, and other VM
implementations would be able to certify themselves against the
spec.
* JIT improvements
- Right now, our JIT is still pretty simple. It would be nice if we
could enhance it to allow for more elaborate compilation schemes
(eg. optimizations). In particular, I'd like to keep the
compilation framework clean and modular enough that it could be
used as a basis for research projects, etc. Some other projects
such as ORP and Jikes RVM have pluggable JIT modules - maybe we
can be interoperable with those? The whole concept of doing dynamic
compilation at runtime is exciting, since it is theoretically
possible to do a better job of machine code generation than what a
static compiler can do - but that involves building some serious
world class compiler infrastructure (a very big job).
* Verifier / Security
- We don't have a full verifier, so we can't run untrusted code.
* Realtime Spec (JSR 1)
- I haven't read the Realtime Specification for Java, but perhaps we
could implement some of it.
* Process separation (JSR 121 - Application Isolation API Specification)
- I read Godmar's thesis on KaffeOS (very nice), and found it very
interesting. Since JanosVM and KaffeOS are based on Kaffe, maybe
JSR 121 isn't too hard to implement. I haven't looked at it though.
* J2ME
- With an interactive configuration system, we could configure Kaffe
so that it would be possible to build it in various J2ME-compliant
configurations.
* Mozilla integration / OJI
- There were some patches that allowed Kaffe to be run inside
Mozilla using the OJI interface. That would be nice to see
distributed with Kaffe. Maybe we could do plug-ins for things like
Konqueror and Internet Explorer too?
* Commandline / JNI invocation interface
- I'd like to update the main program that handles the kaffe
commandline so that it was smart about having multiple backends. So
kaffe could be built with multiple backend vms (eg.
libkaffevm-intrp-debug.so, libkaffevm-jit3-optimized.so), and
the front end would dynamically link with the appropriate one at
runtime based on the command line switches passed to it. This could
get complicated with native methods, since we might have to compile
them multiple times, once for each vm.
* AWT improvements
- It would be nice to merge in the framebuffer AWT from PocketLinux.
There are some other AWT and AWT-like libraries out there that we
could use as well (eg. Rudolph, Gtk AWT, QT AWT, Classpath AWT,
SWT). I'd like to see some aesthetic work done on the AWT. :-)
* Debugging / Profiling
- JPDA/JVMPI support would be very nice. Also, gdb now does a nice
job debugging Java code compiled with gcj - it would be nice if it
could be made to work with an interpreter/JIT like Kaffe. Plus
there's the BDBJ debugger that works with Kaffe that looks very
interesting.
* Various API updates
- There are a lot of new Java APIs that we could support. Some, like
the new Classloader semantics, would be really nice. If we get
Classpath working, then some of this could be done via Classpath,
but in some cases, the VM component needs updates as well.
I've probably forgotten some stuff ... I'm interested in what other
people would like to see. I'll use this information to update the
"Projects" page on the website, when I get time.
I do plan to spend some time on some of these things this summer
(probably about a day a week) - I should be able to make some progress,
however slow it may be.
On a personal note, I haven't announced this to the list yet -- I no
longer work for Transvirtual, as I left to work for Berkeley Signal,
Inc. (BSI) about 3 weeks ago. Transvirtual is still very supportive of
Kaffe.org (eg. they are providing the server) and approves of the
continuing work on the project. I believe with my new job, I'll be able
to contribute even more to the project than I did in the past (I might
actually be using Kaffe to do some settop box prototyping).
Cheers,
- Jim