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RE: VMInterface addition: Make native library names part ofVMInterface


From: Jeroen Frijters
Subject: RE: VMInterface addition: Make native library names part ofVMInterface
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 17:56:01 +0100

Bryce McKinlay wrote:
> Sorry, I think I misunderstood your message. I thought you were 
> suggesting moving all the native methods (eg for IO classes) to 
> separate VM* classes.

I think that is in fact what Mark was suggesting and I think this is
definitely a good idea. There are a lot of VMs that don't (want to) use
JNI for their "native" methods. Having all native methods in the VM*
classes makes this much easier.

> Right. I think there is a distinction, however, between what the VM 
> must implement to operate with classpath - ie core VM classes like 
> Class, Object, Throwable, Thread; and portable classes which 
> happen to have native methods, such as java.io.File and 
> java.net.PlainSocketImpl. 
> The later are just normal classes with native methods, the 
> implementations of which are typically be portable across different 
> VMs.

This assumption is not true for some VMs. My VM (IKVM) has no native
methods and I'm pretty sure this is also true for JAOS and maybe others.

> So, they a system/platform interface rather than the VM 
> interface. 
> To put it another way, just because a method is native 
> doesn't mean it interfaces with the VM.

The VM* classes don't mean "interfaces with the VM", but are a way for
VM implementers to easily replace their implementation. (The idea being
that the interface between the non-VM and VM classes is fairly stable).

Regards,
Jeroen




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