Re: Importing sources (?)

[Jeff Sturm <jeff dot sturm at appnet dot com>]

"Kevin A. Burton" wrote:
> woah... big -1.  This is a *bad* idea IMO.  If you think that stuff is cool just
> link to a .jar or have a "links" section in README of other cool stuff do DL.

That would make sense for other VM's, e.g. kaffe.  But since the point of gcj is
to build to native code, probably the best thing to do for now is make it easy
for somebody to download and compile a package.

One of my frustrations with free Java projects is the lack of any consistent
build environment.  Some provide makefiles, some do not, and many are hardwired
for a particular compiler, e.g. javac or jikes.

It seems that the automake/autoconf spirit has not yet infiltrated the Java
community.

I can see real value in the gcj team providing certain third-party packages
ready to "configure; make; make install" with gcj.  I really like Alex's idea of
having separate, optional CVS modules.

Perhaps there should be a HOWTO for independent authors who want to make their
project gcj-ready, so gcj volunteers do not carry the full burden.


--
Jeff Sturm
jeff.sturm@commerceone.com