Re: DataInputStream changes...

[Etienne M. Gagnon]

John Keiser wrote:
> > It should be the responsibility of each VM to add its own classes, then
> > compile and package them.  It shouldn't be the responsibility of
> > Classpath.
> >
> I think the original plan was to package the mainline .zip file separate
> from the VM classes, but there was some technical reason not to, like the VM
> security would be compromised or something.  Plus I was probably being lazy
> about the build process, I'm not so good at Makefile magic :)


It is true that, if you want to actually build a .zip file, it must
include both the vm and Classpath classes (this is because of runtime
packages/security).  But this should be the VM's job.  Classpath could
limit itself to:
1- Build and install native libraries.
2- Build and optionally install classes [in a file hierarchy tree, NOT
in a .zip file].

I still think that the VM itsellf should take care of building the final
.zip file (if it supports it).  This is because another VM could chose
to put classes in a MySQL database, for example.  There's no way
Classpath can anticipate all possibilities.

And, yes I agree, Autoconf/Automake do not fit well with Java (they work
great for the native part, though).  In sablepath, I compile .java files
using a "mmake" generated Makefile [+ jikes], but it is not ideal, as
classes are recompiled over and over, even if you changed a single
file.  I have just learned lately about Apache's "jakarta-ant".  It is a
configure/make utility that works very well with Java.  Quite easy to
learn, too.  The problem is: it is written in Java, so we have a
bootstrapping problem.  This is not entirely true, as the initial
compilation could be simply done using a shell script.  I might very
well use it for Sablepath.

Etienne
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Etienne M. Gagnon, M.Sc.                     e-mail: address@hidden
Author of SableCC:                 http://www.sable.mcgill.ca/sablecc/
and SableVM:                                   http://www.sablevm.org/
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