Re: Apps. using Sun Java in Ubuntu, howto use them with gij ?

[Andrew Haley <aph-gcc at littlepinkcloud dot COM>]

Ramon Nogueira writes:

 > This thread has raised an issue that has been at the back of my mind
 > for a while now, and I'd just like to get a feel for what's being done
 > about it if anything.
 > 
 > With the imminent GPL'ing of Sun's JDK, does is not make sense to
 > support their class libraries together with GCJ?

For some application areas that might make good sense.  For example,
gcj has better platform coverage in some areas.

 > I am aware that there are issues with native method dependencies on
 > the Sun JVM that are not documented, but doesn't the fact that we
 > now have the complete GPL source of that VM change all that?

Sure, we could figure out the library interface to the VM by studying
the source for the VM, but why bother when (hopefully) we'll soon also
have the source for the library?

 > The way I see it (and I don't pretend to be too clued up on all
 > this stuff, just an interested observer), it seems like less work
 > (in the long and short term) to adapt GCJ to use Sun's JDK than to
 > implement all that is currently missing from Classpath/libgcj?

Maybe.  I wouldn't make any such claim, and in any case it may not be
the best way to go.  It may make more sense to fill in the gaps as
needed.

Andrew.