snip... > > Having classpath (with binary files!) In the GCC SVN (or future git) > repository is a significant burden, not to mention the size of the > distributed source tarball. > > If we can get rid of that that would be a great step in reducing the burden. > > Iff we can even without classpath build enough of java to be useful (do you > really need gcj or only gij for bootstrapping openjdk? After all ecj is just > a drop-in to gcc as well).
All the Java compilers are written in Java (ecj & javac). So to run them, you need a JVM and its class library. It's those binary files which allow gcj to bootstrap the stack. If OpenJDK had a minimal binary class library, it would be able to bootstrap itself. But, as things stand, you need enough of the JDK to run a Java compiler and build the OpenJDK class libraries. GCJ currently fulfils that need where there isn't already an OpenJDK installation available. -- Andrew :) Senior Free Java Software Engineer Red Hat, Inc. (http://www.redhat.com) PGP Key: ed25519/35964222 (hkp://keys.gnupg.net) Fingerprint = 5132 579D D154 0ED2 3E04 C5A0 CFDA 0F9B 3596 4222 PGP Key: rsa4096/248BDC07 (hkp://keys.gnupg.net) Fingerprint = EC5A 1F5E C0AD 1D15 8F1F 8F91 3B96 A578 248B DC07
