Weldon Washburn wrote: > On 11/28/07, Dan Bornstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> On Nov 28, 2007 2:51 PM, Tim Ellison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Given that the Harmony class library natives are implemented in terms of >>> the portlib functions [1], either (a) you implemented the portlib >>> functions to work on the Android platform, or (b) changed the natives to >>> call the OS directly. >> We did (b), and it is attributable at least in part due to the way the >> project progressed: We started with an entirely new library >> implementation (not Harmony based at all), and it was only relatively >> late in Android's history (after the project was already a going >> concern for at least a couple years) that we started importing code >> from Harmony to flesh out the implementation. >> >> At this point, maybe it makes sense for Dalvik to start using portlib, >> but I have a clarifying question: What are the advantages and >> disadvantages of doing so? > > It is interesting that you should ask about portlib's advantages. It > turns out that the portlib code in DRLVM is very confusing at the > moment and is in need of cleanup. I worry that cleaning up > DRLVM/portlib might require changing portlib internals. A question > for Tim: would IBM entertain changes to portlib internals?
erm, a bit hard to answer that question without any details. > An approach that does not require IBM, Google, Intel, etc to agree on > generic portlib code would be to simply leave things as they are. For > an open source handheld internet device, it seems an embedded Linux is > the only practical choice for the OS. Gluing a handheld JVM directly > to an embedded Linux certainly reduces the code maintenance effort. > This comes at the cost of being portable to some non-Linux embedded > OS. An interesting related question -- what non-Linux embedded OS's > does Harmony portlib support? Even in the Linux world there are subtle differences at that portlib level that need to be taken into account (e.g. [1]). I don't know of anyone who has implemented the _Harmony_ portlib on a non-Linux embedded OS. [1] http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/harmony-dev/200709.mbox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] Regards, Tim
