Bug#358237: make-jpkg should create two .deb files instead of one

[Daniel Gimpelevich]

On Mar 22, 2006, at 12:54 AM, Wolfgang Baer wrote:

>>> The simplest argument against it is: Its just not possible to use
>>> the non-free runtime classlibraries with a free runtime. AFAIK, for
>>> interaction between a runtime and the class library a VM interface is
>>> needed. And thats not the same between the non-free and GNU classpath
>>> derived runtimes.
>>>
>>> Wolfgang
>>
>>
>> Hmm. I was under the impression that the VM interface had become
>> sufficiently compatible for a full compatibility layer to be
>> straightforward. Class libraries consist of classes, and since there 
>> are
>> classes that work with both runtimes separately from any class 
>> library,
>> I thought that differences in functionality between the free and
>> non-free environments was primarily due to differences between the 
>> class
>> libraries, with the VM interfaces being relatively equal. If I was
>> mistaken, I am sorry.
>
> The jni interface (and the newer jawt interface) should be compatible
> with the non-free implementations. The interface VM/Classlib can't be 
> as
> it is AFAIK not defined anywhere by SUN.

Ironic, since JNI is architecture-dependent. I thought that the 
VM/Classlib interface was part of the official JVM spec to which GIJ 
was coded.

> For information about the VM interface of GNU classpath see:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/docs/vmintegration.html

That page mainly talks about the use of the free class library with 
various different JVMs, which is pretty much the reverse of what I was 
suggesting. BTW, everywhere in my original mail where I used the term 
GCJ, I was referring to GNU Classpath for Java, not GNU Compiler for 
Java.