Re: java for linux/arm

On Wed, 2007-10-10 at 23:35 -0400, Guillaume Pothier wrote:
> I downloaded it earlier today. You have to respond to a survey to
> download the JRE, which is a *trial* version, time-limited to 90
> days...
> Well, I guess it's time for Sun to try to make some money out of
> Java... But I wonder if they  plan to make a freely redistributable
> version, otherwise it will be impossible to create open-source or
> freeware Java programs for iPaqs...

That's not entirely true. Java isn't just Sun's JDK/JRE. If you have 
a look at the packages in Familiar 0.8.4 you'll find GNU Classpath (a 
clean-room implementation of a Java class library), JamVM (an
interpreter-only JVM - not as fast as with JIT but close on average),
and several libraries that e.g. allow you to run SWT or Gtk+
applications. If you accept that the "write once run anywhere" slogan is
just a myth anyway, that's not bad at all.

Since the release of 0.8.4 the Java world has changed quite a bit. Sun
released major parts of their JDK under the GPL as OpenJDK. It's not
complete, but you can get it to work by replacing the still closed bits
with code from e.g. Classpath. One would have to port the VM to ARM one
more time (unless the port developed at CRL can somehow be made
available under GPL) or use the class library with another VM.

So, yeah, there are ways to get either a Classpath or OpenJDK derived
environment if you're willing to spend a bit of time on it.

Regards,

Rene

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