[kaffe] Garbage Collection

[Dalibor Topic]

hi Zoe,

--- Zoe <chyu at csis.hku.hk> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> > pocketlinux' version of kaffe had seen more
> internal
> > development from Transvirtual, and should contain
> some
> > improvements in some areas (AWT, rudimentary jit4,
> > gc-interface to boehm, more ports & threading
> systems,
> > better gcj support ...), but it has been surpassed
> in
> > others ;)
> >
> > In short, volunteers are needed to merge in the
> good
> > bits.
> >
> I see.  I would like to ask a stupid question: where
> can I find PocketLinux
> Kaffe.  The URL http://www.pocketlinux.com cannot be
> reached.

In kaffe's CVS, or on
ftp://ftp.kaffe.org/pub/packages/pocketlinux

> > > Do
> > > you mean that the GC in
> > > PocketLinux Kaffe can be plugged into Kaffe as
> well?
> >
> > Only if the gc interface hasn't diverged much
> between
> > the two versions. I haven't looked at it seriously
> > yet, so I can't tell. It would be nice if someone
> > could try to merge it in, so we can know for sure
> ;)
> >
> Even if the GC interface doesn't diverge much
> between the two, I wonder if
> the GC for PocketLinux is suitable for Kaffe. 
> PocketLinux is developed for
> hand-held or mobile devices.  GC for these resource
> constraint environments
> cannot be very complicated and has many
> restrictions.  So I would like to
> take a look on PocketLinux's source code, see how it
> can have Boehm's GC
> merged.  If possible, I would like to merge
> PocketLinux's GC into Kaffe (if
> that's not too tedious), see if there is any
> performance improvement.

well, that would be really nice!

> Final question: I would like to know if there is any
> write barrier
> implemented in Kaffe-1.0.7 currently?  It seems that
> it is somehow
> implemented in Kaffe (GC_WRITE?), but I cannot find
> its implementation.
> Would you mind tell me where does its source code
> locate?  I think a write
> barrier is important for an incremental/asynchronous
> GC.

I haven't really looked at the gc, so I can't comment
on that, sorry. I'm sure others can. If you don't get
an answer on list, try to contact the original
authors. the ChangeLogs should be of some help to
track down the gc developers.

> Actually, I use Kaffe for my research purpose. 
> Currently I try to study and
> understand the entire memory management system of
> Kaffe.  I would be very
> grateful if you can answer my questions.  Thanks!

It would be nice if you could update the current
documentation on the gc as you go. I have heard
complaints that it's not up to date. there is a paper
from Cygnus describing an early version of kaffe's gc
on the net, but that one is apparently outdated as
well.

cheers,
dalibor topic


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