Java for SGI

This is version 3.0.1 of SGI's Java software, a port of the Sun® Java Development Kit (JDK), shipped in two separate products:

java_eoe

the Java Execution Environment, containing the base runtime system and this documentation. See its release notes for known problems.

java_dev

the Java Development Environment, containing the Java compiler, debugger, and related tools. If you installed it (including its documentation), then see its release notes for known problems, demos, and other useful information.

This release is conformant with the behavior of Sun's 1.1.3 JDK.

This development kit is supported on IRIX 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4.

IMPORTANT

• Please see our suggestions for setting up your environment to run Java correctly, particularly if you are using multiple versions of Java.
  
  
• JIT (Just In Time) compilation of Java bytecodes to MIPS machine code for improved performance is now done by default. For details, see here.
  
  
• The class hierarchy is now in jar files. Previously, the system classes were installed under /usr/java/classes. Now, they have been archived using the utility jar, and reside in /usr/java/lib. This saves a great deal of space, both in the installed size, and in the size of the images. There is one file per subsystem. The correspondence is:

      rt.jar       java_eoe.sw.base
      i18n.jar     java_eoe.sw.opt
      dev.jar      java_dev.sw.base
      tiny.jar     java_dev.sw.tiny
  

• The JavaBeans API classes are included in this release in the java_eoe.sw.base subsystem, but the BeanBox and Beans demos have not been included. You can get them from Sun's JavaBeans site.
  
  

Bug Fixes

This release fixes a number of bugs that were there in the 3.0 release:

• Sun bugs: All the bugs fixed by Sun's 1.1.3 JDK. More details at Sun's Java Bugs Web Site.
• JNI: There were several bugs in the implementation of JNI. They were mostly related to passing double and long arguments to native functions. This release has a new implementation of the glue code for calling native interfaces that fixes those problems and provides a more robust JNI.
• JIT: Translation was not correct for calling a synchronized method with 10 or more arguments.
• Image resizing: Displaying an image remotely using the method drawImage() did not work if the image was resized (sometimes an empty window appeared; sometimes a core dump occurred).
• Image display using 8-bit graphics: Displaying an image took an inordinate amount of time if the target display system had 8-bit graphics.
• Selected text not visible: When text was selected in appletviewer, the text was not properly highlighted.
• Delays in MIDI response: Mixed Java/C applications which used the C MIDI library encountered delays of up to a second in processing events from MIDI devices.
• rld core dumps with Irix 5.3 patch 2064: When Java was used with a 5.3 system which had patch 2064 installed, an rld core dump would result.
• Delays when displaying locally on an Octane: AWT programs being run and displayed on a single Octane would sometimes encounter two types of delays:
  • a 30-second delay when opening a window
  • delay in drawing to a window until a user input event (e.g., a mouse movement) occurred

Installation Notes

• Important patch for IRIX 5.3 users
  
  You should obtain and install patch 1268 (an all-platform kernel rollup patch).Without this patch, it is possible to hang the operating system if the Java runtime generates a segmentation fault. All known runtime Java failures have been fixed. This patch ensures that unknown failures are handled gracefully.
  
  
• It is possible to have both this software and our Java 2.1.1 release (based on Sun's 1.0.2 JDK) on your machine at the same time. Use the -r option to inst or swmgr to install either or both of them in alternate locations. See the man pages for inst and swmgr for details.
  
  
• Due to a bug in the inst and swmgr utilities, these warnings might be seen when installing java_eoe.sw.base on a system running IRIX 6.2 or earlier:
  
  

  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$Codes.class" at line 251 of java_dev.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$NativeInLightFixer.class" at line 29 of java_eoe.i
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$PeerFixer.class" at line 77 of java_eoe.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$1.class" at line 697 of java_eoe.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$1" at line 698 of java_eoe.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$AppletEventListener.class" at line 698 of java_eoe
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$UserActionListener.class" at line 701 of java_eoe.
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$1.class" at line 705 of java_eoe.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$1" at line 706 of java_eoe.idb
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$ActionEventListener.class" at line 706 of java_eoe
  WARNING: Unknown attribute "$Adjustor.class" at line 789 of java_eoe.idb
  

  These warnings may be safely ignored.

Java and CosmoCode

This version of the Java Execution and Development Environments is compatible with version 2.2 of CosmoCode. CosmoCode static analysis of system classes will only work with 3.0.1 if SGI CosmoCode patch #2285 is also loaded. This patch is available from SGI's Java site.

Java Documentation

• JDK tool man pages
  
  
• If you installed the java_dev.man.API subsystem, then you have a copy of the JDK 1.1.3 API documentation.
  
  
• Sun's Java site contains a wealth of Java information, including a section specifically on the JDK 1.1.3 release.

Contacting Us

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