VMRuntime.insertSystemProperties(); java.ext.dirs

[Steven Augart]

I have been implementing the rest of the mandatory properties as 
listed in VMRuntime.insertSystemProperties().  I'm puzzled by the 
java.ext.dirs property, which is listed both in VMRuntime and in the 
Sun 1.4.2 API docs as mandatory.  Classpath sticks everything into 
glibj.zip, including the javax classes.  Neither gij 3.3.1 nor Kaffe 
1.1.4  define it.

I'm setting it to the empty string for now, in Jikes RVM's 
implementation.   But I wonder what it would mean if someone were to 
explicitly set it to another value.   Would it mean that the bootstrap 
class loader should start to look for javax.* classes wherever 
java.ext.dirs points?  I could certainly prepend or append 
java.ext.dirs to the bootstrap class path (either explicitly or 
implicitly), but I have the feeling that something else might have 
been in the minds of the Java API authors.  Right now, setting it does 
nothing.

Any thoughts?

--Steve Augart

--
Steven Augart

Jikes RVM, open source Research Virtual Machine:
http://oss.software.ibm.com/jikesrvm

Office: +1 914/784-6743
T.J. Watson Research Center, IBM