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<header title="GNU Classpath">
<en>
<p>
<table class="groupmenutable">
  <tr>
    <td width="10%"><i>Classpath:</i></td>
    <td width="90%">
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/classpath/">Savannah</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabselect href="http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/">Homepage</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=classpath">Bugs</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/support/?group=classpath">Support</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/patch/?group=classpath">Patches</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=classpath">Mailing Lists</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/pm/?group=classpath">Tasks</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/news/?group=classpath">News</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=classpath">CVS</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class=tabs href="http://savannah.gnu.org/files/?group=classpath">Files</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td width="10%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Tools:</i></td>
    <td width="90%">
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/cp-tools/">Savannah</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://www.gnu.org/software/cp-tools/">Homepage</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=cp-tools">Bugs</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/support/?group=cp-tools">Support</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/patch/?group=cp-tools">Patches</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=cp-tools">Mailing Lists</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/pm/?group=cp-tools">Tasks</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/news/?group=cp-tools">News</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=cp-tools">CVS</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
      <a class="tabs" href="http://savannah.gnu.org/files/?group=cp-tools">Files</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p>
GNU Classpath is a set of essential libraries for supporting the Java
language.  Our goal is to provide a free replacement for Sun's
proprietary class libraries so that the GNU system can run programs
written in the Java language.
</p>

<p>
Classpath is licensed under the terms of the <createlink url="/copyleft/gpl.html"
name="GNU General Public License"> with the following special exception.
</p>

<p>
<blockquote>
<code>
As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
module.  An independent module is a module which is not derived from
or based on this library.  If you modify this library, you may extend
this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
obligated to do so.  If you do not wish to do so, delete this
exception statement from your version.
</code>
</blockquote>
</p>

<p>
As such, it can be used to run free as well as proprietary
applications and applets.  Using GNU Classpath as the class library 
for a Java virtual machine (JVM) does not affect the licensing of the 
JVM.
</p>

<p>
Classpath is still a work in progress.  The first public release will 
be version 1.0.  There have been no public releases; however, pre-release 
source code is available via GNU's anonymous 
<createlink url="http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group_id=85" name="CVS server">
, and snapshots of the Classpath tree have been released and are
available from <createlink url="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/classpath/"
name="ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/classpath/">.  
</p>

</en>

<H4>Documentation</H4>
<UL>
  <LI><createlink url="docs/" name="Current Documentation"></LI>
  <LI><createlink url="docs/orp.html" name="Using GNU
  Classpath with ORP"></LI>
  <LI><createlink url="docs/jikesrvm.html" name="Using GNU
  Classpath with Jikes RVM"></LI>
  <LI><createlink url="announce/announcements.html" 
       name="Old News"></LI>
</UL>

<H4><en>Status</en></H4>
<p>
<en>
GNU Classpath 1.0 will be fully compatible with Java 1.1 and largely 
compatible with Java 2.  The current state of GNU Classpath can be
obtained by looking at these resources.
  <ul>
    <li><createlink url="http://savannah.gnu.org/pm/task.php?group_id=85&set=custom&advsrch=0&group_project_id=0&_assigned_to=0&_status=1&SUBMIT=Browse" name="All open tasks"></li>
    <li>GNU Classpath vs: <createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/htmlout/h-jdk10-classpath.html" name="JDK 1.0"> <createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/htmlout/h-jdk11-classpath.html" name="JDK 1.1"> <createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/htmlout/h-jdk12-classpath.html" name="JDK 1.2"> <createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/htmlout/h-jdk13-classpath.html" name="JDK 1.3"> <createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/htmlout/h-jdk14-classpath.html" name="JDK 1.4"> (updated nightly)</li>
    <li>GNU Classpath <createlink url="mauve/" name="Mauve Results"></li>
    <li>GNU Classpath and GCJ <createlink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/java/libgcj-classpath-compare.html" name="Merge Status"></li>
  </ul>
</en>
</p>

<H4>Testing</H4>
<en>
<p>
The test framework for GNU Classpath is called 
<createlink url="http://sources.redhat.com/mauve/" name="Mauve">.  There 
are instructions within the Mauve website on how to download and use Mauve.
Writing Mauve tests is the most important thing GNU Classpath developers
could do for the project at this time.
</p>
<p>
Java API compatibility testing can be performed using 
<createlink url="http://japi.sab39.org/"
name="japitools">.  Japitools already does
full API comparisons but it doesn't have the capability to extract
APIs from the documentation - instead, the "japize" tool uses the
jode.bytecode library to identify the public members of a given set of
packages from the binary jars or zips.  But japitools does separate the
API-inspection phase ("japize") from the compatibility-testing phase
("japicompat") so it would be easy to offer an alternative to japize
that worked on API documentation.
</p>
<p>
Another method of API compatibility testing is to use <createlink
url="http://majestix.ucnet.uoc.gr/~jgeorgal/pub/jdiff.sh"
name="jdiff.sh">, at least until this functionality is merged into
japitools.
</en>

<H4>Package Providers</H4>
<en>
<p>Below is a table of providers for core packages not already available
with GNU Classpath
</p>
<table border="1" width="100%">
<th>Core Package</th><th>Provider</th>
<tr><td>javax.crypto</td><td><createlink url="http://www.gnu.org/software/classpathx/crypto/crypto.html" name="GNU Crypto"></td></tr>
<tr><td>javax.sound</td><td><createlink url="http://tritonus.org/" 
                             name="Tritonus"></td></tr>
<tr><td>org.ietf.jgss</td><td><createlink
url="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2853.txt" name="IETF RFC 2853"></td></tr>
<tr><td>org.omg</td><td><createlink url="http://www.omg.org"
name="OMG"></td></tr>
</table>
</en>

<H4>Virtual Machines</H4> 
<en>
<p>
The primary target for GNU Classpath was originally <createlink
url="http://www.japhar.org/" name="Japhar">.  Japhar-0.07 works out-of-the-box with
GNU Classpath-0.00.  Current Japhar versions do not work with current versions
of GNU Classpath.
</p>

<table border="1" width="100%">
<tr><th>JVM</th><th>Description</th></tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://aegisvm.sourceforge.net/" name="AegisVM"></td>
<td>
The Aegis VM Project is an on-going effort to develop a lightweight,
secure virtual machine for executing Java bytecode.  The Aegis VM will
eventually feature a modular bytecode verification architecture that
allows user-defined static verification procedures to be integrated
into the VM's dynamic linking process through pluggable verification
modules.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://sources.redhat.com/java/" name="GCJ"></td>
<td>
Although GNU Classpath cannot be directly compiled for use with
GCJ at this time, a lot of work has been done to merge GCJ class
library code and GNU Classpath class library code.  This has resulted
in a better version of each.  The current merge status between the two
projects is <createlink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/java/libgcj-classpath-compare.html"
name="located here">.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ikvm/" name="IKVM.NET">
<td>
A JVM for the .NET platform.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/jikesrvm/" name="Jikes RVM"></td>
<td>
This VM now uses GNU Classpath for most of the core libraries. 
Instructions for using this JVM with GNU Classpath CVS have been posted
to the mailing list.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~doylep/jupiter/" name="Jupiter"></td>
<td>
This VM also uses a modified version of the GNU Classpath libraries.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://kissme.sourceforge.net/" name="Kissme"></td>
<td>
This VM is almost always guaranteed to work with GNU Classpath CVS 
source code.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.intel.com/research/mrl/orp/" name="ORP"></td>
<td>
Information about ORP
can also be found at <createlink url="http://orp.sourceforge.net/"
name="http://orp.sourceforge.net/">.  ORP 1.10 does not work with 
current GNU Classpath libraries.  Information is available in the
mailing list archives.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.sablevm.org/" name="SableVM"></td>
<td>
This VM provides a repackaged version of GNU Classpath that aims to
be the easiest to install and use.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<H4>Projects or Commercial Products</H4> 
<p>
</p>

<table border="1" width="100%">
<tr><th>Project</th><th>Description</th></tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.e-leos.net/" name="E-LEOS"></td>
<td>
GNU Classpath is used as part of this project to create a Java operating
system.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.flex-compiler.lcs.mit.edu/" name="Flex Compiler"></td>
<td>
FLEX is a compiler infrastructure written in Java for Java. Applications 
include a program analysis and transformation framework for distributed 
and embedded systems. Native backends exist for the StrongARM and MIPS 
processors; it can also generate portable C code that can run on any 
platform with gcc.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.svtehs.com/ipjv.htm" name="IPJV"></td>
<td>
The IPJVM virtual machine for Java is a clean room implementation, 
that has been specially optimized to run on device with limited amount 
of internal memory.  IPJV-ES evaluation board is available.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><createlink url="http://www.aicas.com/jamaica.html" name="JamaicaVM"></td>
<td>
JamaicaVM provides realtime execution, garbage collection, sophisticated
static optimizations and targets many real-time operating systems and 
processor architectures.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</en>
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