Re: [rvm-research] JikesRVM as a static compiler

Hi,

On 19.01.2017 16:49, JOE wrote:
> Has there been any research or projects using JikesRVM as a static compiler to run a Java program natively on a computer without an OS? The static compilation would supply Java objects that provide equivalent OS services and provide access to the computer hardware devices.
I'm not aware of any such research. However, this doesn't mean much. I'm not a researcher and consequently don't follow research papers closely.

If you wanted to try to use Jikes RVM in such a way, you'd likely run into several problems.

Stability would likely be a big problem. For example, the default collector (GenImmix) likely has a space leak and is prone to crashing on SPECjbb2005. Moreover, there's generally not much effort in the code base to recover from errors. The VM just crashes, possibly printing debug information.

It's also likely that you'd have to invest in improving the compilers if you want to have any kind of reasonable comparison with other ahead-of-time compilers. For example, the current opt compiler doesn't have SSA. It also doesn't support important optimizations like array bound check elimination or partial redudancy elimination.

Other problems might include incomplete coverage of the standard library (due to use of GNU Classpath instead of OpenJDK), non-compliance with the JVM spec (e.g. JMM) and lack of concurrent compacting garbage collectors in mainline Jikes RVM.

If you're interested in a Java-based OS, there's the JNode project ( https://github.com/jnode/jnode / http://www.jnode.org/ ).

If you wanted to have a native Java implementation without underlying OS for productive use (as opposed to research), your best bet would probably be to contact a company that sells realtime JVMs and have them evaluate whether this is feasible. I suppose there are several companies that do this but the only one that I can think of off the top of my head is aicas, which sells the JamaicaVM.


Kind regards,

Erik Brangs

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