AIX and OpenJDK

[Steve Poole]

On 01/02/2012 02:00, David Holmes wrote:
> Stepping up a level I think we need to address the way we currently 
> arrange our sources and build files along OS/architecture lines before 
> trying to integrate any further ports into mainline (including the OSX 
> port that is currently off-to-the-side in 7u-osx). The initial scheme 
> (Windows else not-Windows-but-lets-call-it-Solaris) simply does not 
> expand cleanly and we do not want an explosion of ifdefs in the native 
> code (I welcome the attempt to use capability-based schemes here where 
> feasible).
Completely agree - luckly most of the AIX changes fit into the 
capability based scheme so there are very little extra ifdefs.
>
> Relatedly we have two major upheavals to the source and build systems 
> in the pipeline: modules and the new build-infra project. These will 
> have enough impact on their own, without trying to somehow merge two 
> ports (OSX and AIX) at the same time.
>
> So to that end a porting project with custom workspaces is the best 
> way to go in my opinion as it means the port can be created based on 
> current layouts and be made available to those wanting it, then over 
> time, and probably for post JDK8, get updated to handle modules and 
> the new build system.
>
> Just my personal opinions.
>
> David Holmes
>
> On 31/01/2012 8:49 PM, Steve Poole wrote:
>>
>> hi all,
>>
>> Last year there was a discussion [1] about adding AIX platform support
>> into OpenJDK. I'd like to pick up that conversation and complete this 
>> work.
>>
>> To recap the salient points of the thread:
>>
>> 1: The scale of the changes to support AIX without Hotspot are small ( ~
>> 300 LOC) There are an additional 19 new files that cover AIX specific
>> build files and providing necessary support for AIX specific filesystem,
>> virtual machine and process attributes in the same manner as is already
>> done for Linux, Solaris and Windows etc. Generally the changes have been
>> coded as capability based rather than platform focused. These changes
>> are easy to understand and help towards improving platform portability.
>>
>> 2: Generally AIX is very close to both Linux and Solaris. As you would
>> expect we will help ensure OpenJDK developers do not break things where
>> they do not have access to an AIX machine.
>>
>> 3: This work will faciliate the porting of Hotspot to AIX but IBM
>> intends to focus on our own JVM at this time (as you would imagine). We
>> will make a binary of the JVM available for OpenJDK developers who want
>> early access on AIX of ongoing work in JDK8 and AIX.
>>
>> I said I would post more when all the changes under item 2 above had
>> been posted. That's basically now. I'd like to pick up the conversation
>> again and resolve how to get the remaining files into OpenJDK so it's
>> possible to build and run JDK 8 on AIX.
>>
>> I do not consider that the scale of these changes warrant a porting
>> project all of their own. Does anyone have a reason why I shouldn't just
>> start posting the additional files with the intention of getting them
>> added into the main JDK8 repos?
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> [1]
>> http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/porters-dev/2011-October/000363.html 
>>
>>
>