Proposal: Haiku port of OpenJDK

[Bryan Varner]

Greetings,

My name is Bryan Varner, and I am a developer at the Haiku Project
(www.haiku-os.org). I am also the lead of our newly created Java Team, an
initiative to bring first-class support for Java technologies to the Haiku
operating system. I am writing to you because we would like to start by
producing an OpenJDK port for Haiku, under the guidance and supervision of
this group. Consider this our proposal for your review and approval.

# The team

Our team is currently comprised of several Haiku developers, including a
couple of 'veterans,' that will be assisting the effort in various areas
from within Haiku. At least two of the members, Andrew Bachmann and I,
were actually involved in the port of JDK 1.4.2 to the BeOS, which Haiku
is compatible with (source and binary!). All members of our team who wish
to participate in OpenJDK development and not just Haiku development (we
expect to have to add things to Haiku in order to support the OpenJDK
port) will abide by and fully participate with OpenJDK and their house
rules.

# Past achievements

The results of our Java port to BeOS were never released (mainly to the
demise of BeOS), but nevertheless included the following achievements:

* Bootstrapping the 1.4.2 build using jikes and a javah replacement
written in C++.

* A working, native AWT that uses the BeAPI. Most of Java2D is
implemented. I dare you to find a cleaner AWT implementation!

* Ability to run SwingSet, Java2D demos, JBoss, Tomcat, etc.

* 1:1 BeOS native threading model -- which isn't pthreads.

# Goals of the project

Our ultimate goal is to have a JCK compliant JDK for Haiku that could be
merged upstream. Initially, our port will focus on support for the x86
processor line. Haiku has the (long-term) intention to support additional
architectures. As these are added to Haiku, our intent would be to add
support to these in the OpenJDK as well. A consistent user experience
across architectures with Haiku is important to us.

In an ideal world, our port will be ready in time for the Java 7 release.
We will do what we can to make that a reality.


Yesterday, Dec. 6, 2007, we held an internal IRC meeting with the core
Haiku developers to discuss this initiative. As part of that meeting, we
had the opportunity to converse with Dalibor Topic (whom we invited to
join us), and whom I'm sure you all know. Dalibor gave the Haiku
developers in attendance a good overview of how the project works, and we
now have a better understanding of the project organization, the
importance of the SCA. We are ready to commit to abide by the rules at all
times.

Speaking for the Haiku Java team, I respectfully ask that you consider our
proposal to port OpenJDK to Haiku. If you have any questions, be they
technical, organizational, or otherwise, feel free to direct them my way.

We eagerly await your response.

Bryan Varner
Java Team Lead
Haiku Project (http://www.haiku-os.org)