"Converge [the] best features of HotSpot and JRockit" - what does this mean for OpenJDK?

Volker Simonis volker.simonis at gmail.com
Mon Feb 1 18:05:05 UTC 2010


Hi David,

yes, you're right. In theory the HotSpot VM could be replaced by
another VM to use the same OpenJDK Java class library (i.e. the part
under the 'jdk/' subdirectory).

But in my post I was explicitly referring to the HotSpot VM itself and
the fact that it could hardly be merged with the JRockit VM. The
scenario you are talking about would exactly confirm my  fears: the
HotSpot VM would be discontinued and the OpenJDK would degenerate to a
class library (like Classpath once before). Not the best perspective
for a free Java implementation...

Regards,
Volker

On 2/1/10, David Herron <david at davidherron.com> wrote:
> In Theory ...
>
> Theoretically JRockit could be changed to implement the same interfaces
> HotSpot implements so that JRocket could plug into the OpenJDK runtime.
> That would allow any VM to plug into the OpenJDK runtime.  This was the goal
> of the Clean VM Interface project
> (http://openjdk.java.net/projects/cvmi/)
>
> Right?
>
> - David Herron,
> http://davidherron.com
>
> On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 2:43 AM, Volker Simonis <volker.simonis at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > In its "Oracle + Sun: Transforming the IT Industry" strategy outlook
> > Executive Vice President Thomas Kurian of Oracle mentioned that Oracle
> > plans to "Converge [the] best features of HotSpot and JRockit" (slide
> > 10 of
> http://www.oracle.com/ocom/groups/public/@ocom/documents/webcontent/044523.pdf).
> >
> > Has anybody thought about what implications this could have for OpenJDK?
> >
> > My fears are that if HotSpot and JRockit will "converge" this means
> > that OpenJDK will be abandoned, because JRockit isn't OpenSource and I
> > haven't heared of any plans to open source it any time soon.
> > Consequently, if JRockit is and will stay closed source, a convergence
> > of HotSpot and JRockit can only happen in a "closed" version.
> >
> > Are there any sentiments regarding this topic?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Volker
> >
>
>



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