path: root/java/kaffe/pkg-descr

KAFFE v0.5.5 - A JIT and interpreting virtual machine to run Java(tm)* code
===========================================================================

This is Kaffe, a virtual machine design to execute Java bytecode.
This machine can be configured in two modes.  In one mode it operates as
a pure bytecode interpreter (not unlike Javasoft's machine); in the second
mode if performs "just-in-time" code conversion from the abstract code to
the host machine's native code.  This will ultimately allow execution of
Java code at the same speed as standard compiled code but while maintaining
the advantages and flexibility of code independence.

Running Kaffe
=============

This version of Kaffe is not supplied with a copy of Sun's class library.
This can be obtained from Sun's JDK package (from http://www.javasoft.com) or
pre-prepaired in kaffe-0.5.5-sun.tgz (from the usual Kaffe ftp sites).
This version of Kaffe uses the class library from JDK 1.0.2.

Before running Kaffe it is necessary to configure the environment.
This requires the setting of CLASSPATH, KAFFEHOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
For the standard installation these would be defined as follows:

    CLASSPATH=.:/usr/local/share/java/classes.zip
    KAFFEHOME=/usr/local/share/kaffe
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib

Who can use Kaffe
=================

This version of Kaffe is distributed under a Berkeley style license.
Essentially you can use Kaffe for both personal and commerical purpose, on
its own or as part of another package (see license.terms for full details).

Kaffe Web and FTP sites
=======================

Kaffe is available from various sites.  The primary site is:

        ftp://ftp.sarc.city.ac.uk/pub/kaffe/

Kaffe mailing lists
===================

A couple of mailing lists are available for information and discussion of
the Kaffe project.  There lists are:
  
        kaffe@sarc.city.ac.uk           - General discussions
        kaffe-announce@sarc.city.ac.uk      - Announcements
  
To subscribe to these lists send a message containing the word "subscribe"
to either:
        
        kaffe-request@sarc.city.ac.uk
        kaffe-announce-request@sarc.city.ac.uk
  
depending what you are interested in.

You can also check out the Kaffe related web pages at:

    http://www.sarc.city.ac.uk/~tim/kaffe

The state of play
=================

Kaffe should run all non-graphical code which will run on a Java
machine.  However there are still bugs and plenty of untested native
library functions.  Some functions which are not currently implemented
(most often because I don't understand exactly what they are suppose to
do) will simply abort if called.  If you can help out on any of these
then please do *BUT* remember, this is a clean-room implementation (I
have never seen any of Sun's Java source code) and I cannot simply
encorporate Javasoft's* code.

The missing bits
================

Awt
---
One major missing component from Kaffe is an implementation of AWT.  Work
on this is being done by others, and their current implementation can be found
at ftp://slhp1.epfl.ch/pub/sawt-0.1.tar.gz.  I don't know what the current
status of this work.

Java.lang & Java.io
-------------------
Although Kaffe can be used with Sun's classes.zip library, there is work
to develop a version of this class library which is Sun's free.  This
can be found at ftp://ftp.lantz.com/kream/kream-0.01.tgz.  Again, I don't
know the current status of this work.

Kaffe and Sun's Java
====================

Kaffe is a clean-room implementation of a virtual machine which can run
Java bytecode.  It is capable of interpreting code generated by Sun's
software but has not been derived from any Sun code.  Currently this version
utilises Sun's freely available compiled class library but it is hoped
that this will be replaced with a freely available version in due time.
At the moment it is impossible to validate whether this software is
Java compatible(tm) (the test suites are not publically available) and
the terms under which this can be claimed are unknown.

Erm, that's it ....

Tim Wilkinson
<tim@tjwassoc.demon.co.uk>
----
* Java and Javasoft are registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.