Bytecode-to-native regression tests

[Bryce McKinlay]

Tom Tromey wrote:

>Bryce> I propose adding a libjava.bytecode test suite which will contain
>Bryce> binary .class files for such tests. Obviously for licensing reasons we
>Bryce> (in general) can't just go adding bytecode from random failing .jar
>Bryce> files in there, but in cases where a reproducable test case exists, we
>Bryce> could place its bytecode there. The source code would be included too,
>Bryce> but only for reference purposes - only the bytecode version would
>Bryce> actually be used/compiled.
>
>Bryce> Anyone have any concerns about this?
>
>What if instead of source code we checked in the jasmin-syntax
>assembler source (as well as the class files)?  Then we could
>conceivably make minor tweaks and regenerate if needed.  This would
>also make it simpler to test variations on a theme.  I'm just
>thinking of a situation where we need to make some change (dunno,
>change a method name or something) but we can't because no existing
>compiler will generate the same weird bytecode.
>

Good idea. Is there a "disassembler" that can produce a jasmin file from 
bytecode?

Small, jasmin-compatible bytecode assembler and disassembler tools would 
be a great addition to the gcj toolchain - anyone want to write them? :)

Bryce