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https://github.com/readytalk/avian

[INACTIVE] Avian is a lightweight virtual machine and class library designed to provide a useful subset of Java's features, suitable for building self-contained applications.
https://github.com/readytalk/avian

java jit-compiler jvm openjdk portable

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[INACTIVE] Avian is a lightweight virtual machine and class library designed to provide a useful subset of Java's features, suitable for building self-contained applications.

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README 

        
Avian - A lightweight Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

================================================



**PLEASE NOTE: This project is not currently being developed, maintained, or supported.  Feel free to use and/or fork it, but any issues filed here will probably be ignored.**



[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/ReadyTalk/avian.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/ReadyTalk/avian)



Quick Start

-----------



These are examples of building Avian on various operating systems for

the x86_64 architecture.  You may need to modify JAVA_HOME according

to where the JDK is installed on your system.  In all cases, be sure

to use forward slashes in the path.



#### on Linux:

    $ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64

    $ make

    $ build/linux-x86_64/avian -cp build/linux-x86_64/test Hello



#### on Mac OS X:

    $ export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home)

    $ make

    $ build/macosx-x86_64/avian -cp build/macosx-x86_64/test Hello



#### on Windows (Cygwin):

    $ git clone [email protected]:ReadyTalk/win64.git ../win64

    $ export JAVA_HOME="/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Java/jdk1.7.0_45"

    $ make

    $ build/windows-x86_64/avian -cp build/windows-x86_64/test Hello



#### on FreeBSD:

    $ export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/openjdk7

    $ gmake

    $ build/freebsd-x86_64/avian -cp build/freebsd-x86_64/test Hello



Introduction

------------



Avian is a lightweight virtual machine and class library designed to

provide a useful subset of Java's features, suitable for building

self-contained applications.



Supported Platforms

-------------------



Avian can currently target the following platforms:



  * Linux (i386, x86_64, ARM, and ARM64)

  * Windows (i386 and x86_64)

  * Mac OS X (i386 and x86_64)

  * Apple iOS (i386, x86_64, ARM, and ARM64)

  * FreeBSD (i386, x86_64)



Building

--------



Build requirements include:



  * GNU make 3.80 or later

  * GCC 4.6 or later

      or LLVM Clang 3.1 or later (see use-clang option below)

  * JDK 1.6 or later

  * MinGW 3.4 or later (only if compiling for Windows)

  * zlib 1.2.3 or later



Earlier versions of some of these packages may also work but have not

been tested.



The build is directed by a single makefile and may be influenced via

certain flags described below, all of which are optional.



    $ make \

        platform={linux,windows,macosx,ios,freebsd} \

        arch={i386,x86_64,arm,arm64} \

        process={compile,interpret} \

        mode={debug,debug-fast,fast,small} \

        lzma= \

        bootimage={true,false} \

        tails={true,false} \

        continuations={true,false} \

        use-clang={true,false} \

        openjdk= \

        openjdk-src= \

        android= \

        ios-version=



  * `platform` - the target platform

    * _default:_ output of $(uname -s | tr [:upper:] [:lower:]),

normalized in some cases (e.g. CYGWIN_NT-5.1 -> windows)



  * `arch` - the target architecture

    * _default:_ output of $(uname -m), normalized in some cases

(e.g. i686 -> i386)



  * `process` - choice between pure interpreter or JIT compiler

    * _default:_ compile



  * `mode` - which set of compilation flags to use to determine

optimization level, debug symbols, and whether to enable

assertions

    * _default:_ fast



  * `lzma` - if set, support use of LZMA to compress embedded JARs and

boot images.  The value of this option should be a directory

containing a recent LZMA SDK (available [here](http://www.7-zip.org/sdk.html)).  Currently, only version 9.20 of

the SDK has been tested, but other versions might work.

    * _default:_ not set



  * `armv6` - if true, don't use any instructions newer than armv6.  By

default, we assume the target is armv7 or later, and thus requires explicit

memory barrier instructions to ensure cache coherency



  * `bootimage` - if true, create a boot image containing the pre-parsed

class library and ahead-of-time compiled methods.  This option is

only valid for process=compile builds.  Note that you may need to

specify both build-arch=x86_64 and arch=x86_64 on 64-bit systems

where "uname -m" prints "i386".

    * _default:_ false



  * `tails` - if true, optimize each tail call by replacing the caller's

stack frame with the callee's.  This convention ensures proper

tail recursion, suitable for languages such as Scheme.  This

option is only valid for process=compile builds.

    * _default:_ false



  * `continuations` - if true, support continuations via the

avian.Continuations methods callWithCurrentContinuation and

dynamicWind.  See Continuations.java for details.  This option is

only valid for process=compile builds.

    * _default:_ false



  * `use-clang` - if true, use LLVM's clang instead of GCC to build.

Note that this does not currently affect cross compiles, only

native builds.

    * _default:_ false



  * `openjdk` - if set, use the OpenJDK class library instead of the

default Avian class library.  See "Building with the OpenJDK Class

Library" below for details.

    * _default:_ not set



  * `openjdk-src` - if this and the openjdk option above are both set,

build an embeddable VM using the OpenJDK class library.  The JNI

components of the OpenJDK class library will be built from the

sources found under the specified directory.  See "Building with

the OpenJDK Class Library" below for details.

    * _default:_ not set



  * `android` - if set, use the Android class library instead of the

default Avian class library.  See "Building with the Android Class

Library" below for details.

    * _default:_ not set



  * `ios-version` - the minimum iOS SDK version which will be used

when compiling for ios target. Do not use a value 11.0 or larger,

if you want to support 32 bit version. This option is only valid

for platform=ios .

    * _default:_ 8.0



These flags determine the name of the directory used for the build.

The name always starts with _${platform}-${arch}_, and each non-default

build option is appended to the name.  For example, a debug build with

bootimage enabled on Linux/x86_64 would be built in

_build/linux-x86_64-debug-bootimage_.  This allows you to build with

several different sets of options independently and even

simultaneously without doing a clean build each time.



Note that not all combinations of these flags are valid.  For instance,

non-jailbroken iOS devices do not allow JIT compilation, so only

process=interpret or bootimage=true builds will run on such

devices.  See [here](https://github.com/ReadyTalk/hello-ios) for an

example of an Xcode project for iOS which uses Avian.



If you are compiling for Windows, you may either cross-compile using

MinGW or build natively on Windows under Cygwin.



#### Installing Cygwin:



  __1.__ Download and run setup.exe from [cygwin's website](http://www.cygwin.com), installing the base

  system and these packages: make, gcc-mingw-g++,

  mingw64-i686-gcc-g++, mingw64-x86_64-gcc-g++, and (optionally) git.



You may also find our win32 repository useful: (run this from the

directory containing the avian directory)



    $ git clone [email protected]:ReadyTalk/win32.git



This gives you the Windows JNI headers, zlib headers and library, and

a few other useful libraries like OpenSSL, libjpeg, and libpng.

There's also a win64 repository for 64-bit builds:



      $ git clone [email protected]:ReadyTalk/win64.git



Building with the Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler

-----------------------------------------------



You can also build using the MSVC compiler, which makes debugging with

tools like WinDbg and Visual Studio much easier.  Note that you will

still need to have GCC installed - MSVC is only used to compile the

C++ portions of the VM, while the assembly code and helper tools are

built using GCC.



*Note that the MSVC build isn't tested regularly, so is fairly likely to be broken.*



Avian targets MSVC 11 and above (it uses c++ features not available in older versions).



To build with MSVC, install Cygwin as described above and set the

following environment variables:



    $ export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/Common7/IDE:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/VC/BIN:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/Common7/Tools:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v3.5:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/VC/VCPackages:/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft SDKs/Windows/v6.0A/bin:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS:/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem"

    $ export LIBPATH="C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\LIB;"

    $ export VCINSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC"

    $ export LIB="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\lib;"

    $ export INCLUDE="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\INCLUDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\include;"



Adjust these definitions as necessary according to your MSVC

installation.



Finally, build with the msvc flag set to the MSVC tool directory:



    $ make msvc="/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0/VC"



Building with the OpenJDK Class Library

---------------------------------------



By default, Avian uses its own lightweight class library.  However,

that library only contains a relatively small subset of the classes

and methods included in the JRE.  If your application requires

features beyond that subset, you may want to tell Avian to use

OpenJDK's class library instead.  To do so, specify the directory

where OpenJDK is installed, e.g.:



    $ make openjdk=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk



This will build Avian as a conventional JVM (e.g. libjvm.so) which

loads its boot class library and native libraries (e.g. libjava.so)

from _/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk/jre_ at runtime.  Note that you must

use an absolute path here, or else the result will not work when run

from other directories.  In this configuration, OpenJDK needs to

remain installed for Avian to work, and you can run applications like

this:



    $ build/linux-x86_64-openjdk/avian-dynamic -cp /path/to/my/application \

        com.example.MyApplication



Alternatively, you can enable a stand-alone build using OpenJDK by

specifying the location of the OpenJDK source code, e.g.:



    $ make openjdk=$(pwd)/../jdk7/build/linux-amd64/j2sdk-image \

        openjdk-src=$(pwd)/../jdk7/jdk/src



You must ensure that the path specified for openjdk-src does not have

any spaces in it; make gets confused when dependency paths include

spaces, and we haven't found away around that except to avoid paths

with spaces entirely.



The result of such a build is a self-contained binary which does not

depend on external libraries, jars, or other files.  In this case, the

specified paths are used only at build time; anything needed at

runtime is embedded in the binary.  Thus, the process of running an

application is simplified:



    $ build/linux-x86_64-openjdk-src/avian -cp /path/to/my/application \

        com.example.MyApplication



Note that the resulting binary will be very large due to the size of

OpenJDK's class library.  This can be mitigated using UPX, preferably

an LZMA-enabled version:



    $ upx --lzma --best build/linux-x86_64-openjdk-src/avian



You can reduce the size futher for embedded builds by using ProGuard

and the supplied openjdk.pro configuration file (see "Embedding with

ProGuard and a Boot Image" below).  Note that you'll still need to use

vm.pro in that case -- openjdk.pro just adds additional constraints

specific to the OpenJDK port.  Also see

[app.mk](https://github.com/ReadyTalk/avian-swt-examples/blob/master/app.mk)

in the _avian-swt-examples_ project for an example of using Avian,

OpenJDK, ProGuard, and UPX in concert.



Here are some examples of how to install OpenJDK and build Avian with

it on various OSes:



#### Debian-based Linux:

_Conventional build:_



    $ apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

    $ make openjdk=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk test



_Stand-alone build:_



    $ apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

    $ apt-get source openjdk-7-jdk

    $ apt-get build-dep openjdk-7-jdk

    $ (cd openjdk-7-7~b147-2.0 && dpkg-buildpackage)

    $ make openjdk=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk \

        openjdk-src=$(pwd)/openjdk-7-7~b147-2.0/build/openjdk/jdk/src \

        test



#### Mac OS X:

_Prerequisite:_ Build OpenJDK 7 according to [this site](https://wikis.oracle.com/display/OpenJDK/Mac+OS+X+Port).



_Conventional build:_



    $ make openjdk=$(pwd)/../jdk7u-dev/build/macosx-amd64/j2sdk-image test



_Stand-alone build:_



    $ make openjdk=$(pwd)/../jdk7u-dev/build/macosx-amd64/j2sdk-image \

        openjdk-src=$(pwd)/../p/jdk7u-dev/jdk/src test



#### Windows (Cygwin):

_Prerequisite:_ Build OpenJDK 7 according to [this site](http://weblogs.java.net/blog/simonis/archive/2011/10/28/yaojowbi-yet-another-openjdk-windows-build-instruction).  Alternatively, use https://github.com/alexkasko/openjdk-unofficial-builds.



_Conventional build:_



    $ make openjdk=$(pwd)/../jdk7u-dev/build/windows-i586/j2sdk-image test



_Stand-alone build:_



    $ make openjdk=$(pwd)/../jdk7u-dev/build/windows-i586/j2sdk-image \

        openjdk-src=$(pwd)/../p/jdk7u-dev/jdk/src test



Currently, only OpenJDK 7 is supported.  Later versions might work,

but have not yet been tested.



Building with the Android Class Library

---------------------------------------

As an alternative to both the Avian and OpenJDK class libaries, you

can also build with the Android class library. Now it should work on Linux, OS X and Windows.



The simpliest way to build Avian with Android classpath is to use `avian-pack` project: https://github.com/bigfatbrowncat/avian-pack



Avian-pack consists of Avian itself with some Android components (such as libcore and icu4c).



Note that we use the upstream OpenSSL repository and apply the

Android patches to it.  This is because it is not clear how to build

the Android fork of OpenSSL directly without checking out and building

the entire platform.  As of this writing, the patches apply cleanly

against OpenSSL 1.0.1h, so that's the tag we check out, but this may

change in the future when the Android fork rebases against a new

OpenSSL version.



Installing

----------



Installing Avian is as simple as copying the executable to the desired

directory:



    $ cp build/${platform}-${arch}/avian ~/bin/



Embedding

---------



The following series of commands illustrates how to produce a

stand-alone executable out of a Java application using Avian.



Note: if you are building on Cygwin, prepend "x86_64-w64-mingw32-" or

"i686-w64-mingw32-" to the ar, g++, gcc, strip, and dlltool commands

below (e.g. x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc).



__1.__ Build Avian, create a new directory, and populate it with the

VM object files and bootstrap classpath jar.



    $ make

    $ mkdir hello

    $ cd hello

    $ ar x ../build/${platform}-${arch}/libavian.a

    $ cp ../build/${platform}-${arch}/classpath.jar boot.jar



__2.__ Build the Java code and add it to the jar.



    $ cat >Hello.java <embedded-jar-main.cpp <("-Xbootclasspath:[bootJar]");



      JavaVM* vm;

      void* env;

      JNI_CreateJavaVM(&vm, &env, &vmArgs);

      JNIEnv* e = static_cast(env);



      jclass c = e->FindClass("Hello");

      if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

        jmethodID m = e->GetStaticMethodID(c, "main", "([Ljava/lang/String;)V");

        if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

          jclass stringClass = e->FindClass("java/lang/String");

          if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

            jobjectArray a = e->NewObjectArray(ac-1, stringClass, 0);

            if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

              for (int i = 1; i < ac; ++i) {

                e->SetObjectArrayElement(a, i-1, e->NewStringUTF(av[i]));

              }



              e->CallStaticVoidMethod(c, m, a);

            }

          }

        }

      }



      int exitCode = 0;

      if (e->ExceptionCheck()) {

        exitCode = -1;

        e->ExceptionDescribe();

      }



      vm->DestroyJavaVM();



      return exitCode;

    }

    EOF



__on Linux:__



     $ g++ -I$JAVA_HOME/include -I$JAVA_HOME/include/linux \

         -D_JNI_IMPLEMENTATION_ -c embedded-jar-main.cpp -o main.o



__on Mac OS X:__



     $ g++ -I$JAVA_HOME/include -I$JAVA_HOME/include/darwin \

         -D_JNI_IMPLEMENTATION_ -c embedded-jar-main.cpp -o main.o



__on Windows:__



     $ g++ -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -I"$JAVA_HOME/include" -I"$JAVA_HOME/include/win32" \

         -D_JNI_IMPLEMENTATION_ -c embedded-jar-main.cpp -o main.o



__5.__ Link the objects produced above to produce the final

executable, and optionally strip its symbols.



__on Linux:__



    $ g++ -rdynamic *.o -ldl -lpthread -lz -o hello

    $ strip --strip-all hello



__on Mac OS X:__



    $ g++ -rdynamic *.o -ldl -lpthread -lz -o hello -framework CoreFoundation

    $ strip -S -x hello



__on Windows:__



    $ dlltool -z hello.def *.o

    $ dlltool -d hello.def -e hello.exp

    $ gcc hello.exp *.o -L../../win32/lib -lmingwthrd -lm -lz -lws2_32 \

        -lIphlpapi -mwindows -mconsole -o hello.exe

    $ strip --strip-all hello.exe



Embedding with ProGuard and a Boot Image

----------------------------------------



The following illustrates how to embed an application as above, except

this time we preprocess the code using ProGuard and build a boot image

from it for quicker startup.  The pros and cons of using ProGuard are

as follow:



 * Pros: ProGuard will eliminate unused code, optimize the rest, and

   obfuscate it as well for maximum space savings



 * Cons: increased build time, especially for large applications, and

   extra effort needed to configure it for applications which rely

   heavily on reflection and/or calls to Java from native code



For boot image builds:



 * Pros: the boot image build pre-parses all the classes and compiles

   all the methods, obviating the need for JIT compilation at runtime.

   This also makes garbage collection faster, since the pre-parsed

   classes are never visited.



 * Cons: the pre-parsed classes and AOT-compiled methods take up more

   space in the executable than the equivalent class files.  In

   practice, this can make the executable 30-50% larger.  Also, AOT

   compilation does not yet yield significantly faster or smaller code

   than JIT compilation.  Finally, floating point code may be slower

   on 32-bit x86 since the compiler cannot assume SSE2 support will be

   available at runtime, and the x87 FPU is not supported except via

   out-of-line helper functions.



Note you can use ProGuard without using a boot image and vice-versa,

as desired.



The following instructions assume we are building for Linux/x86_64.

Please refer to the previous example for guidance on other platforms.



__1.__ Build Avian, create a new directory, and populate it with the

VM object files.



    $ make bootimage=true

    $ mkdir hello

    $ cd hello

    $ ar x ../build/linux-x86_64-bootimage/libavian.a



__2.__ Create a stage1 directory and extract the contents of the

class library jar into it.



    $ mkdir stage1

    $ (cd stage1 && jar xf ../../build/linux-x86_64-bootimage/classpath.jar)



__3.__ Build the Java code and add it to stage1.



     $ cat >Hello.java <hello.pro <bootimage-main.cpp <("-Davian.bootimage=bootimageBin");



      options[1].optionString

        = const_cast("-Davian.codeimage=codeimageBin");



      JavaVM* vm;

      void* env;

      JNI_CreateJavaVM(&vm, &env, &vmArgs);

      JNIEnv* e = static_cast(env);



      jclass c = e->FindClass("Hello");

      if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

        jmethodID m = e->GetStaticMethodID(c, "main", "([Ljava/lang/String;)V");

        if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

          jclass stringClass = e->FindClass("java/lang/String");

          if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

            jobjectArray a = e->NewObjectArray(ac-1, stringClass, 0);

            if (not e->ExceptionCheck()) {

              for (int i = 1; i < ac; ++i) {

                e->SetObjectArrayElement(a, i-1, e->NewStringUTF(av[i]));

              }



              e->CallStaticVoidMethod(c, m, a);

            }

          }

        }

      }



      int exitCode = 0;

      if (e->ExceptionCheck()) {

        exitCode = -1;

        e->ExceptionDescribe();

      }



      vm->DestroyJavaVM();



      return exitCode;

    }

    EOF



     $ g++ -I$JAVA_HOME/include -I$JAVA_HOME/include/linux \

         -D_JNI_IMPLEMENTATION_ -c bootimage-main.cpp -o main.o



__8.__ Link the objects produced above to produce the final

 executable, and optionally strip its symbols.



    $ g++ -rdynamic *.o -ldl -lpthread -lz -o hello

    $ strip --strip-all hello



Trademarks

----------



Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its

affiliates.  Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.



The Avian project is not affiliated with Oracle.