110 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
KAFFE v0.5.5 - A JIT and interpreting virtual machine to run Java(tm)* code
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===========================================================================
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This is Kaffe, a virtual machine design to execute Java bytecode.
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This machine can be configured in two modes. In one mode it operates as
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a pure bytecode interpreter (not unlike Javasoft's machine); in the second
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mode if performs "just-in-time" code conversion from the abstract code to
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the host machine's native code. This will ultimately allow execution of
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Java code at the same speed as standard compiled code but while maintaining
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the advantages and flexibility of code independence.
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Running Kaffe
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=============
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This version of Kaffe is not supplied with a copy of Sun's class library.
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This can be obtained from Sun's JDK package (from http://www.javasoft.com) or
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pre-prepaired in kaffe-0.5.5-sun.tgz (from the usual Kaffe ftp sites).
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This version of Kaffe uses the class library from JDK 1.0.2.
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Before running Kaffe it is necessary to configure the environment.
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This requires the setting of CLASSPATH, KAFFEHOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
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For the standard installation these would be defined as follows:
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CLASSPATH=.:/usr/local/share/java/classes.zip
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KAFFEHOME=/usr/local/share/kaffe
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LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib
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Who can use Kaffe
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=================
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This version of Kaffe is distributed under a Berkeley style license.
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Essentially you can use Kaffe for both personal and commerical purpose, on
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its own or as part of another package (see license.terms for full details).
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Kaffe Web and FTP sites
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=======================
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Kaffe is available from various sites. The primary site is:
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ftp://ftp.sarc.city.ac.uk/pub/kaffe/
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Kaffe mailing lists
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===================
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A couple of mailing lists are available for information and discussion of
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the Kaffe project. There lists are:
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kaffe@sarc.city.ac.uk - General discussions
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kaffe-announce@sarc.city.ac.uk - Announcements
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To subscribe to these lists send a message containing the word "subscribe"
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to either:
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kaffe-request@sarc.city.ac.uk
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kaffe-announce-request@sarc.city.ac.uk
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depending what you are interested in.
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You can also check out the Kaffe related web pages at:
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http://www.sarc.city.ac.uk/~tim/kaffe
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The state of play
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=================
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Kaffe should run all non-graphical code which will run on a Java
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machine. However there are still bugs and plenty of untested native
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library functions. Some functions which are not currently implemented
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(most often because I don't understand exactly what they are suppose to
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do) will simply abort if called. If you can help out on any of these
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then please do *BUT* remember, this is a clean-room implementation (I
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have never seen any of Sun's Java source code) and I cannot simply
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encorporate Javasoft's* code.
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The missing bits
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================
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Awt
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---
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One major missing component from Kaffe is an implementation of AWT. Work
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on this is being done by others, and their current implementation can be found
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at ftp://slhp1.epfl.ch/pub/sawt-0.1.tar.gz. I don't know what the current
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status of this work.
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Java.lang & Java.io
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-------------------
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Although Kaffe can be used with Sun's classes.zip library, there is work
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to develop a version of this class library which is Sun's free. This
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can be found at ftp://ftp.lantz.com/kream/kream-0.01.tgz. Again, I don't
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know the current status of this work.
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Kaffe and Sun's Java
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====================
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Kaffe is a clean-room implementation of a virtual machine which can run
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Java bytecode. It is capable of interpreting code generated by Sun's
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software but has not been derived from any Sun code. Currently this version
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utilises Sun's freely available compiled class library but it is hoped
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that this will be replaced with a freely available version in due time.
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At the moment it is impossible to validate whether this software is
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Java compatible(tm) (the test suites are not publically available) and
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the terms under which this can be claimed are unknown.
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Erm, that's it ....
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Tim Wilkinson
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<tim@tjwassoc.demon.co.uk>
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----
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* Java and Javasoft are registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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