Questions about the Hermetic Java project

Tue Apr 2 19:16:40 UTC 2024

Hi Magnus,

In today's zoom meeting with Alan, Ron, Liam and Chuck, we (briefly)
discussed how to move forward contributing the static Java related changes
(additional runtime fixes/enhancements on top of the existing static
support in JDK) from
https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/tree/hermetic-java-runtime to JDK
mainline.

Just a bit more details/context below, which may be useful for others
reading this thread.

The https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/tree/hermetic-java-runtime branch
currently contains following for supporting hermetic Java (without the
launcher work for runtime support):

1. Build change for linking the Java launcher (as bin/javastatic) with
JDK/hotspot static libraries (.a), mainly in
https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/blob/hermetic-java-runtime/make/StaticLink.gmk.
The part for creating the complete sets of static libraries (including
libjvm.a) has already been included in the mainline since last year.
https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/blob/hermetic-java-runtime/make/StaticLink.gmk
is in a very raw state and is intended to demonstrate the capability of
building a static Java launcher.

2. Additional runtime fixes/enhancements on top of the existing static
support in JDK, e.g. support further lookup dynamic native library if the
built-in native library cannot be found.

3. Some initial (prototype) work on supporting hermetic JDK resource files
in the jimage (JDK modules image).

To move forward, one of the earliest items needed is to add the capability
of building the fully statically linked Java launcher in JDK mainline. The
other static Java runtime changes can be followed up after the launcher
linking part, so they can be built and tested as individual PRs created for
the JDK mainline. Magnus, you have expressed interest in helping get the
launcher linking part (refactor from
https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/blob/hermetic-java-runtime/make/StaticLink.gmk)
into JDK mainline. What's your thought on prioritizing the launcher static
linking part before other makefile clean ups for static libraries?

Thanks!
Jiangli

On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 12:01 PM Jiangli Zhou <jianglizhou at google.com>
wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 5:07 PM Jiangli Zhou <jianglizhou at google.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Magnus,
> >
> > Thanks for looking into this from the build perspective.
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 1:00 AM Magnus Ihse Bursie
> > <magnus.ihse.bursie at oracle.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > First some background for build-dev: I have spent some time looking at
> > > the build implications of the Hermetic Java effort, which is part of
> > > Project Leyden. A high-level overview is available here:
> > > https://cr.openjdk.org/~jiangli/hermetic_java.pdf and the current
> source
> > > code is here:
> https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/tree/hermetic-java-runtime.
> >
> > Some additional hermetic Java related references that are also useful:
> >
> > - https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8303796 is an umbrella bug that
> > links to the issues for resolving static linking issues so far
> > - https://github.com/openjdk/jdk21/pull/26 is the enhancement for
> > building the complete set of static libraries in JDK/VM, particularly
> > including libjvm.a
> >
> > >
> > > Hermetic Java faces several challenges, but the part that is relevant
> > > for the build system is the ability to create static libraries. We've
> > > had this functionality (in three different ways...) for some time, but
> > > it is rather badly implemented.
> > >
> > > As a result of my investigations, I have a bunch of questions. :-) I
> > > have gotten some answers in private discussion, but for the sake of
> > > transparency I will repeat them here, to foster an open dialogue.
> > >
> > > 1. Am I correct in understanding that the ultimate goal of this
> exercise
> > > is to be able to have jmods which include static libraries (*.a) of the
> > > native code which the module uses, and that the user can then run a
> > > special jlink command to have this linked into a single executable
> > > binary (which also bundles the *.class files and any additional
> > > resources needed)?
> > >
> > > 2. If so, is the idea to create special kinds of static jmods, like
> > > java.base-static.jmod, that contains *.a files instead of lib*.so
> files?
> > > Or is the idea that the normal jmod should contain both?
> > >
> > > 3. Linking .o and .a files into an executable is a formidable task. Is
> > > the intention to have jlink call a system-provided ld, or to bundle ld
> > > with jlink, or to reimplement this functionality in Java?
> >
> > I have a similar view as Alan responded in your other email thread.
> > Things are still in the early stage for the general solution.
> >
> > In the https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/tree/hermetic-java-runtime
> > branch, when configuring JDK with --with-static-java=yes, the JDK
> > binary contains the following extra artifacts:
> >
> > - static-libs/*.a: The complete set of JDK/VM static libraries
> > - jdk/bin/javastatic: A demo Java launcher fully statically linked
> > with the selected JDK .a libraries (e.g. it currently statically link
> > with the headless) and libjvm.a. It's the standard Java launcher
> > without additional work for hermetic Java.
> >
> > In our prototype for hermetic Java, we build the hermetic executable
> > image (a single image) from the following input (see description on
> > singlejar packaging tool in
> > https://cr.openjdk.org/~jiangli/hermetic_java.pdf):
> >
> > - A customized launcher (with additional work for hermetic) executable
> > fully statically linked with JDK/VM static libraries (.a files),
> > application natives and dependencies (e.g. in .a static libraries)
> > - JDK lib/modules, JDK resource files
> > - Application classes and resource files
> >
> > Including a JDK library .a into the corresponding .jmod would require
> > extracting the .a for linking with the executable. In some systems
> > that may cause memory overhead due to the extracted copy of the .a
> > files. I think we should consider the memory overhead issue.
> >
> > One possibility (as Alan described in his response) is for jlink to
> > invoke the ld on the build system. jlink could pass the needed JDK
> > static libraries and libjvm.a (provided as part of the JDK binary) to
> > ld based on the modules required for the application.
> >
>
> I gave a bit more thoughts on this one. For jlink to trigger ld, it
> would need to know the complete linker options and inputs. Those
> include options and inputs related to the application part as well. In
> some usages, it might be easier to handle native linking separately
> and pass the linker output, the executable to jlink directly. Maybe we
> could consider supporting different modes for various usages
> requirements, from static libraries and native linking point of view:
>
> Mode #1
> Support .jmod packaged natives static libraries, for both JDK/VM .a
> and application natives and dependencies. If the inputs to jlink
> include .jmods, jlink can extract the .a libraries and pass the
> information to ld to link the executable.
>
> Mode #2
> Support separate .a as jlink input. Jlink could pass the path
> information to the .a libraries and other linker options to ld to
> create the executable.
>
> For both mode #1 and #2, jlink would then use the linker output
> executable to create the final hermetic image.
>
> Mode #3
> Support a fully linked executable as a jlink input. When a linked
> executable is given to jlink, it can process it directly with other
> JDK data/files to create the final image, without native linking step.
>
> Any other thoughts and considerations?
>
> Best,
> Jiangli
>
> > >
> > > 4. Is the intention is to allow users to create their own jmods with
> > > static libraries, and have these linked in as well? This seems to be
> the
> > > case.
> >
> > An alternative with less memory overhead could be using application
> > modular JAR and separate .a as the input for jlink.
> >
> > > If that is so, then there will always be the risk for name
> > > collisions, and we can only minimize the risk by making sure any global
> > > names are as unique as possible.
> >
> > Part of the current effort includes resolving the discovered symbol
> > collision issues with static linking. Will respond to your other email
> > on the symbol issue separately later.
> >
> > >
> > > 5. The original implementation of static builds in the JDK, created for
> > > the Mobile project, used a configure flag, --enable-static-builds, to
> > > change the entire behavior of the build system to only produce *.a
> files
> > > instead of lib*.so. In contrast, the current system is using a special
> > > target instead.
> >
> > I think we would need both configure flag and special target for the
> > static builds.
> >
> > > In my eyes, this is a much worse solution. Apart from
> > > the conceptual principle (if the build should generate static or
> dynamic
> > > libraries is definitely a property of what a "configuration" means),
> > > this makes it much harder to implement efficiently, since we cannot
> make
> > > changes in NativeCompilation.gmk, where they are needed.
> >
> > For the potential objcopy work to resolve symbol issues, we can add
> > that conditionally in NativeCompilation.gmk if STATIC_LIBS is true. We
> > have an internal prototype (not included in
> > https://github.com/openjdk/leyden/tree/hermetic-java-runtime yet) done
> > by one of colleagues for localizing symbols in libfreetype using
> > objcopy.
> >
> > >
> > > That was not as much a question as a statement. 🙂 But here is the
> > > question: Do you think it would be reasonable to restore the old
> > > behavior but with the new methods, so that we don't use special
> targets,
> > > but instead tells configure to generate static libraries? I'm thinking
> > > we should have a flag like "--with-library-type=" that can have values
> > > "dynamic" (which is default), "static" or "both".
> >
> > If we want to also build a fully statically linked launcher, maybe
> > --with-static-java? Being able to configure either dynamic, static or
> > both as you suggested also seems to be a good idea.
> >
> > > I am not sure if "both" are needed, but if we want to bundle both
> lib*.so and *.a files
> > > into a single jmod file (see question 2 above), then it definitely is.
> > > In general, the cost of producing two kinds of libraries are quite
> > > small, compared to the cost of compiling the source code to object
> files.
> >
> > Completely agree. It would be good to avoid recompiling the .o file
> > for static and dynamic builds. As proposed in
> > https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8303796:
> >
> > It's beneficial to be able to build both .so and .a from the same set
> > of .o files. That would involve some changes to handle the dynamic JDK
> > and static JDK difference at runtime, instead of relying on the
> > STATIC_BUILD macro.
> >
> > >
> > > Finally, I have looked at how to manipulate symbol visibility. There
> > > seems many ways forward, so I feel confident that we can find a good
> > > solution.
> > >
> > > One way forward is to use objcopy to manipulate symbol status
> > > (global/local). There is an option --localize-symbol in objcopy, that
> > > has been available in objcopy since at least 2.15, which was released
> > > 2004, so it should be safe to use. But ideally we should avoid using
> > > objcopy and do this as part of the linking process. This should be
> > > possible to do, given that we make changes in NativeCompilation.gmk --
> > > see question 5 above.
> > >
> > > As a fallback, it is also possible to rename symbols, either piecewise
> > > or wholesale, using objcopy. There are many ways to do this, using
> > > --prefix-symbols, --redefine-sym or --redefine-syms (note the -s, this
> > > takes a file with a list of symbols). Thus we can always introduce a
> > > "post factum namespace" by renaming symbols.
> >
> > Renaming or redefining the symbol at build time could cause confusions
> > with debugging. That's a concern raised in
> > https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/pull/17456 discussions.
> >
> > Additionally, redefining symbols using tools like objcopy may not
> > handle member names referenced in string literals. For example, in
> > https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/pull/17456 additional changes are
> > needed in assembling and SA to reflect the symbol change.
> >
> > >
> > > So in the end, I think it will be fully possible to produce .a files
> > > that only has global symbols for the functions that are part of the API
> > > exposed by that library, and have all other symbols local, and make
> this
> > > is in a way that is consistent with the rest of the build system.
> > >
> > > Finally, a note on Hotspot. Due to debugging reasons, we export
> > > basically all symbols in hotspot as global. This is not reasonable to
> do
> > > for a static build. The effect of not exporting those symbols will be
> > > that SA will not function to 100%. On the other hand, I have no idea if
> > > SA works at all with a static build. Have you tested this? Is this part
> > > of the plan to support, or will it be officially dropped for Hermetic
> Java?
> >
> > We have done some testing with jtreg SA related tests for the fully
> > statically linked `javastatic`.
> >
> > If we use objcopy to localize symbols in hotspot, it's not yet clear
> > what's the impact on SA. We could do some tests. The other question
> > that I raised is the supported gcc versions (for partial linking)
> > related to the solution.
> >
> > Best,
> > Jiangli
> >
> > >
> > > /Magnus
> > >
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mail.openjdk.org/pipermail/leyden-dev/attachments/20240402/f8d7d9e5/attachment.htm>