Re: Free Java : is native code the way?
Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:
> compiling the XML (hence the copy to debian-sgml) in native code with gcj.
> This means that we can run any application [...w/o] a Java virtual machine
> This withdraws a serious objection against Java ("Java is not really free
> since we depend on Sun's virtual machine")
Very good :-)
> Thanks a lot to the gcj team, I hope you will go on!
One important issue from my POV: gcj does not support JNI, and in previous
inquiries to Cygnus, I did not get the impression that JNI is a priority.
IIRC Tom Tromey said that JNI could be implemented on top of CNI, and that
outside contributors are welcome to add it.
Lack of JNI affects use of Classpath (e.g. as an alternative to libgcj)
as well as small, standalone apps that replace AWT with some really simple
GUI (like using curses, e.g. for small installers). It also affects projects
which have native code for performance reasons. At the moment, gcj basically
forces a CNI port. The only alternative I am aware of is TowerJ, which is
good for commercial projects, but does not offer anything to open source.
b.
>
--
"Problem solving is hunting. It is savage pleasure,
and we are born to it." Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs
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