Re: How hard would be an OpenSource JVM ?

On Sep 2, 2004, at 5:29 AM, theUser BL wrote:

> Hmmm...
> And is it possible to port Suns JVM - as closed source - to an other 
> OpenSource VM (like .net/mono , like ikvm do it as free JVM) ?
> If Suns Java VM running on an OpenSource VM (like mono), I think it is 
> easyer to bring it on new platforms. Because then, it is only needed 
> to port the OpenSource VM. And for that VM it is allowed to public the 
> steps between the different releases.

What you are basically proposing now is to write a (for example) x86 
plus a partial Windows OS emulator that runs on Mono.  Essentially this 
emulator would have to provide all the behavior that the given JVM you 
are trying to run expects from the processors and operating system for 
which it was originally built.  In essence, this would fall somewhere 
on the spectrum between something like Bochs, and something like WINE.

This is would be a significantly harder undertaking even than creating 
an open source JVM.  Java has at least made an attempt to create a 
binary format and interface to system service that is relatively 
neutral.  An emulation of a specific hardware/OS platform would have to 
translate the idiosyncrasies of that platform in to the idiosyncrasies 
of every other platform.

I'm afraid there is no shortcut to what the already existing open 
source java VMs and class libraries (Kaffe, SableVM, GCJ, ikvm, GNU 
Classpath, etc) have undertaken.

-wilhelm


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