[kaffe] Re: KJC bug preventing Ant 1.6.0 bootstrap

[Dalibor Topic]

Dear Thomas,

--- Thomas Graf <graf at dms.at> wrote:
> Dear Dalibor,
> 
> On Sat, 2004-01-03 at 12:09, Dalibor Topic wrote:
> > Hi Ito, salut Guilhem,
> > 
> > I've tried to update kaffe-extras to 1.1.3 and ant 1.6.0, and after 
> > spending some time revisiting the ant bootstrap script, I failed due to 
> > what seems to be a compiler bug in kjc.
> We were not able to reproduce this error with the current CVS version of
> KJC; the version of KJC dated April 20, 2002 from the Kaffe CVS tree
> (libraries/javalib/kjc.jar) compiles the test program provided by
> Guilhem on this mailing list without error; however the current version
> of KJC in the Kaffe CVS tree fails: it appears that one of the patches
> and workarounds added to the Kaffe version of KJC causes this error.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply! Maybe we should update kaffe to the CVS
version of kjc. Do you have any plans for a release of the next version of
KOPI?
 
> > It's sad that apparently the kjc developers prefer to be silent when 
> > they receive bug reports, so I guess the burden on maintaining kjc in a 
> > useable shape falls on kaffe developers.
> You may or may not wish to modify the tone of your remarks, but in the
> meantime I feel somewhat obliged to express my right of reply to your
> previous statement...

I'm horribly sorry that I've come off so harshly. I've spent the night fighting
with ant 1.6.0 only to fail at what seems to be a compiler bug, and the
frustration about that made me say things I shouldn't have said in such a tone.
Please accept my sincere apologies.

> Please bear in mind that we are a commercial organisation. The bottom
> line is that while we are wholly committed to the advancement of Free
> Software, we are still bound by commercial necessity.
>
> This does admittedly mean that we cannot always enter into
> correspondence regarding every bug brought to our attention, and I
> apologise for this, but we are always grateful for all input we receive.

The same thing happens with free software projects driven by volunteers all the
time as well. I unfortunately don't have the time to respond to every bug
report to kaffe either, but fortunately there are a few folks around that take
care that the development goes on without my input. In general I think kaffe
manages to give the impression of things progressing somehow on its mailing
list. 

My only real beef with kjc development, is that so little of it is announced to
the public, afaik. So if the mailing list traffic solely consists of bug
reports it gives the wrong impression that the project is dead. 

I'm very glad KJC is not dead, since it (and the tools that come with it) is a
very, very useful tool. I hope you can ignore the harsh tone of my message, and
see it as a PR bug report: you could get a better exposure of your good work,
if you were more public about the good work you're doing. ;)

> Every compiler of the Kopi suite extend KJC; thus every change to the
> Java compiler potentially affects (breaks) each of these systems, which
> are vital for our business.

A good free java-to-bytecode compiler is vital for development of free java
appications. Jikes developement seems to have fallen asleep, and every now and
then, I'm afraid the same would happen to KJC. GCJ is developping at a fast
pace, but it's not useable for compiling other class libraries, than GCJ's. So
basically, we really need you and your business to survive ;)

In this spirit, I wish you, your dearest, your company and your projects a
happy and successful New Year, and I hope you'll accept my apologies.

cheers,
dalibor topic

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