[The Java Posse] Re: "JKoala is an open source project aimed at porting AWT / Swing under Mac OS X / Cocoa"

[Landon Fuller]

On Oct 28, 2010, at 2:33 PM, Rob Ross wrote:

> 
> On Oct 28, 2010, at 8:34 AM, Chris Adamson wrote:
> 
>> Dalibor just tweeted a status update on the bsd-port project from
>> Landon Fuller, in the context of whether JKoala could/should be
>> integrated with it at some point.
>> 
>> http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/bsd-port-dev/2010-October/001355.html
>> 
>> It's in response to Rob, who likes the one-focused-developer model,
>> while Landon would prefer for these efforts to be organized around bsd-
>> port.
>> 
>> --Chris

> 
> I wouldn't say I prefer a single person to work on it. I was trying to get across that this one person is not only qualified to lead the charge on a Mac-native port, but is also available full time, which is what this project is going to need.

Regardless of who steps up to help (I hope a lot of people!), I think we can (and should) use OpenJDK as a rallying point -- there's a lot of work that needs to be done to produce a functional release-quality JDK for Mac OS X, and we can coordinate closely with Oracle (and rely on their resources) by opening a dialog and working with them via the OpenJDK project. One of the first major issues with embarking on any significant quantity of work is whether it will simply be superseded by internal development at Oracle, which is something we can only avoid by talking with them.

It's my goal to see the Mac OS X port merged into Java 7 mainline in time for a proper Mac OS X release, and we're definitely going to have to work with Oracle to make that happen.

> Also, I'm curious why OpenJDK wouldn't just start an "official" new project, a "MacOS-port" project, instead of relying on the BSD-port? The goal it to recreate (and surpass) what Apple did on its port, right? Not just hack up the BSD code so it can run on Mac OS?

The Mac OS X port stands very heavily on the shoulders of the BSD porting work -- Mac OS X is, at heart, a BSD (mostly), and a great majority of code is very nearly identical. Nearly all of the ongoing work and open-source contributions (even predating OpenJDK) have come from the BSD community, and trying to separate the two would simply place the maintenance burden solely on our own heads, for very little benefit.

Where a Mac port needs to differentiate itself is in native integration, and that's something we can do very effectively while still leveraging the work of the BSD porters.

That said, it would be great to have an official Mac OpenJDK (MacJDK?) home page and bug tracking to coordinate Mac-specific work. This is something I'd like to keep closely tied to OpenJDK, if at all possible. Dalibor Topic has volunteered himself to serve as the 'official channel' to Oracle, so I guess that's a question for him :)

> I want a fully native, integrated JDK for the Mac OS platform, and I'm willing to do it myself (metaphorically speaking, I'm not insane) if I have to in order to make this happen.

Sounds good to me :)

-landonf