Jon Stevens wrote:
>
> Jikes works fine.
>
> The issue is that Jikes is a C++ binary and isn't ported to every platform.
Oh yeah ... =)
> It also makes installation/distribution issues a bit more tricky than simply
> calling a Java class file...
Yep. I figured the issue was that it would require an external process.
Damn!
> The real solution is to get Sun to get off their high horse and OSS the
> javac compiler and/or not do stupid things like remove something that tons
> of people depend on and not give an alternative way to do things.
Granted, I'm a Jikes butt-boy, but what I would really love to see is a
Java port of it rather than a new OSS project based on the javac code.
I'm actually not sure what the license on Jikes looks like, but if it's
a GPL-type license then of course it might be a bit of a bundling
problem.
*Quickly ducks the the flames of the GPL-pro camp*
One other thing, just to (slightly) defend Sun here. They have always
been quite unequivocal about not relying on any sun.* classes, as it is
the equivalent of coding to an undocumented API feature in the DLL world
(which, as we all know, are liable to change on a whim). I actually give
Sun a little credit here for providing advanced notice of the situation,
especially at this apparently early stage in the debate.
Of course, that's to say nothing of why there isn't a published compiler
extension (or classes), or why the javac is not OSS in the first place,
or why there is really no alternative to relying on the Main compiler in
many cases. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that everyone
knew it was a possibility from the get-go.
- Christopher
