>As a Kaffe protagonist, I was recently asked by EarthWeb for an article
about
>Linux & Java, and I don't want to restrict this on kaffe and to
"deliberately
>ignore" other Java projects. Classpath certainly has to be mentioned, and I
>therefore would like to ask a few questions:
Thanks for the mention. If you want a comprehensive look at what is going
on with free software Java, you should also mention the Mauve project.
http://sourceware.cygnus.com/mauve/
>(1) Any objections that I include Classpath? Seems to be a silly questions,
>but since kaffe has its own class libs, many expect us to show rivalry.
Given
>the common threat of a proprietarized Java, this is IMHO nonsense, and
there
>is no reason why OpenSource shouldn't raise above it.
No objections to mentioning us. I certainly do not have any bad feelings
towards the Kaffe project.
>(2) How do you cope with the 1.2 API inflation? Especially with respect to
the
>AWT and all its extensions (since this is my native branch, as you might
>know)? How do you feel about the API specs in general, and the AWT
>specifications in particular (suitable for a standard, testability)?
We have built our libraries (mostly) from the ground up to be 1.2 compliant.
Obviously we have not completed that task. In general, when writing a
particular package/class, we shoot for 1.2 compatibility, unless there is
some reason (such as extreme complexity) to go with 1.1. I personally think
the 1.2 API is getting very bloated. It is much larger than 1.1
The class library specifications are often inadequate for producing an
implementation. We sometimes find ourselves having to do what seems best to
us for the given class. I'm sure you have run into this as well. Hopefully
the ISO submissions process will flesh out the API specs and make them much
more rigorous.
I have not been working on the AWT. This is one area where we are going for
1.1 compliance first. I will have to let someone else comment on that.
>(3) How do you expect Suns "community license" to affect your contributors
>(more, less, not relevant)?
I do not expect the Sun license to affect whether or not someone wishes to
contribute to our project.
>(4) anything you would like me to mention (people, needs, plans, future
>releases, other projects, ..)?
You should probably mention that our initial target is to provide a class
library for the Japhar JVM. We are currently capable of functioning as a
drop in replacement for Sun's classes under Japhar. (Unfortunately, this
was broken for a while and the Japhar 0.08 release may not actually be
Classpath compatible. Japhar 0.07 is for sure). Obviously the missing
functionality will not work. Our URL is http://www.classpath.org/
Thanks for including us on this. Happy hacking.
--
Aaron M. Renn ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/
