AIX and OpenJDK

[Steve Poole]

On 02/02/2012 10:43, Alan Bateman wrote:
> On 01/02/2012 18:26, Volker Simonis wrote:
>> I think the prerequisite for a port can not be that there exists
>> access to it on "x86 hardware".
>>
>> With this constraint there will never be an OpenJDK port to other
>> architectures like PPC/Itanium/ARM to name just a few.
>> (By the way, there once upon a time was a mips -porting project
>> http://openjdk.java.net/projects/mips-port/ which was hosted at
>> http://icedtea.classpath.org/hg/openjdk6-mips and which seems to be
>> dead now although it probably didn't run on x86 hardware:)
>>
>> On the other hand, I think it is valid to request build/test access to
>> a platform if there is a port for that platform. However I think the
>> modalities for such an access should be handled by the group which
>> leads the port.
>>
>> The real problem with such an access is that the current Oracle
>> build/test infrastructure is NOT open and does not easily allow the
>> integration of external machines. This is a pain point since long time
>> and we constantly here that Sun and now Oracle is working on it (don't
>> want to blame anybody here!) - but it's just the way how it currently
>> works. After all it seems that we get a new bug tracking system REAL
>> SOON now. The next steps would be a new review system AND of course an
>> open, extensible(from outside Oracle), automatic build and test
>> system.
>>
>> But until we get there, I think an AIX port project would be the
>> appropriate way to handle such changes. Of course IBM would be free to
>> make some build/test hardware/infrastructure available and if that
>> works pretty well it would probably accelerate the integration of the
>> port into the mainline.
> This thread highlights that we need to figure out how OpenJDK can 
> accommodate additional ports going forward. I would be interested to 
> hear how other projects do this. I've heard of projects that have a 
> core set of platforms and then additional teams of volunteers that 
> keep ports that aren't as main stream up to date. If OpenJDK takes on 
> too many platforms then there is the risk that we spend a lot of time 
> just trying to keep things stable and it also means needing ready 
> access to every platform (I suspect this is what Phil is concerned 
> about). There are probably other things we can learn that would help 
> with the code layout too (the jdk repo has to change).
>
Yes, agree - we do need to figure this out.   There is a balance to be 
met between mainstream and non-mainstream.

I will point out though that everyone having ready access to every 
platform is not a prerequisite to being mainstream.   Even if  hardware 
is  "readily"  available it would not be a panacea.   A developer would 
still need some level of platform knowledge.    If you look at this from 
another angle - as developers we all  have particular areas of expertise 
and areas we no less well.   I certainly wouldn't want to claim 
expertise in the intricacies of Window Managers and I would therefore 
defer to the experts.   It the same for platform specific issues.

The idea is that as a community we work as a group  to ensure that it 
all comes together.   What makes a platform mainstream is driven most by 
the number of people actively working to develop and maintain it.

The changes for AIX are small and there are a number of people who are 
willing  to provide the necessary long term support.   So I'm struggling 
with why we can't just get these changes into OpenJDK directly.