FW: Announcing Finalists for the OpenJDK Community Innovator's Challenge

Ted Neward ted at tedneward.com
Wed Mar 19 11:33:51 UTC 2008


> So, if I'm reading this correctly, the project is to make the build on
> Windows both easier and Free?  Your initial proposal was a little
> unclear (at least to me), and I couldn't work out whether or not you
> were proposing shifting from a Free build system (Cygwin) to a
> non-Free one (MSVC).  This sounds different again, so it would be
> great to have some clarification.  I'm speaking merely as an observer
> here; I have enough problems building OpenJDK on GNU/Linux.  I
> wouldn't even want to attempt it on a Windows installation, so great
> job in taking that on! :)
>
The Windows builds have always used *both* Cygwin and MSVC; Cygwin for the make and other Unix-based file tools (cp, rm, awk, sed, etc), and MSVC for the actual compilation of C/C++ code. (Prior to a few years ago, in fact, it wasn't even Cygwin, it was using MKS, a commercial Unix toolchain for Windows.)

My proposal was to move away from the commercial version of MSVC (Visual Studio 2003 and/or Microsoft Visual C++ 6.x are the currently-supported versions of MSVC for building the JDK on Windows) and start using the free version of MSVC (Visual C++ 2008 Express), before attempting moving away from MSVC entirely and using MinGW32's gcc (which is much closer to the underlying OS than Cygwin is).

I'm confident step 1 can happen. I'm reasonably confident #2 can happen. I have no idea of step #3 is even remotely possible, but figure it's worth the look, if the time is there.

Ted Neward
Java, .NET, XML Services
Consulting, Teaching, Speaking, Writing
http://www.tedneward.com
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gnu.andrew.rocks at gmail.com [mailto:gnu.andrew.rocks at gmail.com] On
> Behalf Of Andrew John Hughes
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:48 AM
> To: Ted Neward
> Cc: build-dev at openjdk.java.net
> Subject: Re: FW: Announcing Finalists for the OpenJDK Community
> Innovator's Challenge
> 
> On 19/03/2008, Ted Neward <ted at tedneward.com> wrote:
> > Given that it would appear that my proposal for updating the build
> process
> >  to use a free compiler has apparently been accepted (see below), is
> there a
> >  good time to start thinking about doing the migration work? Are
> there any
> >  major build changes up & coming? I know Kelly has said there's some
> plans to
> >  move the corba project out to an entirely Ant-driven process, so if
> that's
> >  going to happen any time soon, I'll just leave it out of the
> migration
> >  process. (I think the corba stuff still uses the C compiler for some
> of it,
> >  no?)
> >
> >  There's a two-step process I want to take with this:
> >  1) Let's leave most of the build infrastructure in place and just
> try to
> >  swap in Visual C++ 2008 Express.
> >  2) Let's see about moving over to MinGW32's infrastructure (instead
> of
> >  Cygwin's) and see if that doesn't help reduce the path problems
> we're
> >  currently facing in the Windows build of OpenJDK.
> >  2) Let's see about moving over to the MinGW32 gcc compiler for
> building on
> >  windows, and thus remove the dependency on Microsoft's compiler
> completely,
> >  in case VC++ ever moves out of a free (as in beer or as in speech)
> SKU.
> >
> >  My goal is to ensure that I hit #1 by the close of the project
> period
> >  (August), and get as far down 2 and 3 as possible.
> >
> >  Any thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas for how best to tackle this? You
> (the guys
> >  at Sun) have a lot more experience with this codebase than I, so any
> tips,
> >  pointers or suggestions are appreciated.
> >
> >  Ted Neward
> >  Java, .NET, XML Services
> >  Consulting, Teaching, Speaking, Writing
> >  http://www.tedneward.com
> >
> >
> >  > -----Original Message-----
> >  > From: announce-bounces at openjdk.java.net [mailto:announce-
> >  > bounces at openjdk.java.net] On Behalf Of Rich Sands
> >  > Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 6:54 PM
> >  > To: announce at openjdk.java.net; challenge-discuss at openjdk.java.net
> >  > Subject: Announcing Finalists for the OpenJDK Community
> Innovator's
> >  > Challenge
> >  >
> >  > OpenJDK Community,
> >  >
> >  > We're pleased to announce the finalists for the OpenJDK Community
> >  > Innovator's
> >  > Challenge. The judges have been meeting and discussing the 18
> proposals
> >  > received
> >  > during the first phase of the Challenge, and evaluating these
> proposals
> >  > based on
> >  > their technical merit, and their likely impact on the OpenJDK
> Community
> >  > and the
> >  > adoption of OpenJDK-based implementations in new markets, for new
> >  > applications and
> >  > uses. It was not an easy decision, as most of the proposals were
> >  > thoughtful and
> >  > demonstrated passion and commitment to this code base and the
> >  > community. The seven
> >  > Finalists, in order of receipt of their proposals, are:
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > Closures for Java                                    Neal Gafter
> >  >
> >  > Implement XRender pipeline for Java2D                Clemens
> Eisserer
> >  >
> >  > Provide date and time library from JSR-310           Stephen
> >  > Colebourne,
> >  >                                                       Michael
> >  > Nascimento Santos
> >  >
> >  > Portable GUI backends                                Roman Kennke,
> >  > Mario Torre
> >  >
> >  > Virtual Machine Interface                            Andrew John
> Hughes
> >  >
> >  > Free Software synthesizer implemention for
> >  > the OpenJDK project                                  Karl Helgason
> >  >
> >  > OpenJDK on Windows                                   Ted Neward
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > The judges, all Sun employees, are Alan Bateman, Alex Buckley,
> Danny
> >  > Coward, Joe
> >  > Darcy, Ray Gans, James Gosling, Onno Kluyt, Jim Melvin, Alex
> Potochkin,
> >  > Phil Race,
> >  > Mark Reinhold, and Rich Sands.
> >  >
> >  > We want to thank everyone who has entered their proposal into the
> >  > Challenge. It is
> >  > very exciting to see the level of enthusiasm and interest among
> >  > developers for the
> >  > OpenJDK code base. The finalists were chosen based on the
> completeness
> >  > and relevance
> >  > of their proposals and the degree to which the judges felt the end
> >  > results were both
> >  > achievable and valuable to the community at this time. Proposals
> that
> >  > were not
> >  > selected as finalists are still valuable and interesting but Sun
> could
> >  > not select
> >  > them all! The judges hope that everyone who has participated so
> far in
> >  > the Challenge
> >  > will consider continuing their efforts in the Community, and
> >  > collaborating with their
> >  > peers and with Sun to further the goals of the OpenJDK project.
> >  >
> >  > One other thing to remember -- there is no guarantee that
> completed
> >  > Challenge
> >  > projects will be integrated into the main OpenJDK code base, or
> into
> >  > the Java SE
> >  > Platform specification (which is governed by the JCP). Being
> chosen as
> >  > a Finalist or
> >  > completing a project for the Challenge might help to demonstrate
> the
> >  > feasibility of a
> >  > particular API or language proposal but it does not say anything
> about
> >  > the likelihood
> >  > of such a project becoming an approved JSR, or about the code
> being
> >  > integrated into
> >  > the main branch of the OpenJDK code base. Both the spec and the
> code
> >  > are managed
> >  > under processes that are separate from the Challenge.
> >  >
> >  > The finalists will be notified and project space set up for them
> if
> >  > needed in the
> >  > OpenJDK Community. As required by the Challenge rules, work must
> be
> >  > done in the open,
> >  > and the entire OpenJDK community is welcome to watch and comment
> as the
> >  > projects
> >  > progress. The Innovators Challenge will close on August 4th at
> which
> >  > time each
> >  > project will be reviewed to verify that it met the completion
> criteria
> >  > of its
> >  > proposal. Cash prizes will be awarded shortly afterwards.
> >  >
> >  > Thanks again to everyone who has participated. Good luck to all
> >  > Finalists on your
> >  > projects!
> >  >
> >  > Regards,
> >  >
> >  >      --  rms
> >  >
> >  > --
> >  > Rich Sands                     Phone: +1 781 881 4067 / x81524
> >  > Community Marketing Manager    Email: richard.sands at sun.com
> >  > Java SE Marketing              SMS: 6172830027 at vtext.com
> >  > Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> >  > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> >  > recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy
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> >
> >
> 
> So, if I'm reading this correctly, the project is to make the build on
> Windows both easier and Free?  Your initial proposal was a little
> unclear (at least to me), and I couldn't work out whether or not you
> were proposing shifting from a Free build system (Cygwin) to a
> non-Free one (MSVC).  This sounds different again, so it would be
> great to have some clarification.  I'm speaking merely as an observer
> here; I have enough problems building OpenJDK on GNU/Linux.  I
> wouldn't even want to attempt it on a Windows installation, so great
> job in taking that on! :)
> 
> Cheers,
> --
> Andrew :-)
> 
> Document Freedom Day - March 26th
> http://documentfreedom.org
> 
> Support Free Java!
> Contribute to GNU Classpath and the OpenJDK
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