jdk on alpha

[Nate Williams]

> What are the outstanding issues?
> 
> I've read on http://kjkoster.org/java/content/newarch.jsp that
> invokeNative_alpha.s needs to be done.
> Is this still true?

Yes.

> What is the best jdk version to start with?

The only one available, which is the one released by DEC (prior to being
Compaq, which happened prior to HPC) for Linux.

> I've also read on that page that we need a working jdk to bootstrap
> with an example on how to do this with help from another machine.

No need, since the Linux native one works.

> Are there any ideas on how to handle this from ports?
> E.g. can we distribute a native bootstrap jdk binary like it's done
> for modula?

No.  However, in my opinion using the JVM, it's really a non-issue,
unless you're doing it for research purposes.  My 486/66 box with 16MB
of memory blows the doors off my 500Mhz Alpha with 256MB of memory.
Java on the alpha is slow, piggy, and basically useless.

DEC at one point had a VM in beta-test that had a very aggressive JIT
compiler but it never got into production, since Compaq essentially shut
all the work down after they bought DEC.  As stated above, the basic JVM
port that DEC made was unbearably slow.

Unless you want Java just for the sake of Java, you're better off buying
a different hardware platform and running Java on it, since the Alpha
does not run Java very well.



Nate