cross compile Java/AWT to XScale / Windows Mobile ?

[John R. Broderick]

I work for a large organization that is primarily a Java shop. We have several AWT applications deployed on ARM powered Windows CE devices running a PersonalJava JVM. We are upgrading to XScale powered Windows Mobile devices and need to make a decision on a JVM for some new applications, as well as for running the existing apps.

I'm looking at gcj as one of our choices, given that it could save us > $20,000 annually in JVM licensing fees.

I've spent a good part of the last 48 hours surveying the gcc cross compiling and gcj newsgroups, but there doesn't seem to be much information regarding cross compiling to a windows ce / pocket pc / windows mobile environment.

Can anybody give me:
Their opinion regarding whether GNU classpath / gcj is capable of cross compiling to my target environment ? [ XScale PXA - 255 running Windows Mobile 2003 ] - I know that the arm-windowsce-pe target exists, but I don't know if AWT apps will work.
Their opinion whether the project is stable enough right now that they would recommend it themselves for production applications ?

Without much tuning, I did try mysaifu with one of our apps on the newer device and it promptly ran out of memory. I adjusted the heap size between 1 MB and 4 MB and it didn't seem to affect the outcome.

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

John

[David Daney]

John R. Broderick wrote:

> I work for a large organization that is primarily a Java shop. We have
> several AWT applications deployed on ARM powered Windows CE devices running
> a PersonalJava JVM. We are upgrading to XScale powered Windows Mobile
> devices and need to make a decision on a JVM for some new applications, as
> well as for running the existing apps.
>
> I'm looking at gcj as one of our choices, given that it could save us >
> $20,000 annually in JVM licensing fees.
>
> I've spent a good part of the last 48 hours surveying the gcc cross
> compiling and gcj newsgroups, but there doesn't seem to be much information
> regarding cross compiling to a windows ce / pocket pc / windows mobile
> environment.
>
> Can anybody give me:
> Their opinion regarding whether GNU classpath / gcj is capable of cross
> compiling to my target environment ? [ XScale PXA - 255 running Windows
> Mobile 2003 ] - I know that the arm-windowsce-pe target exists, but I don't
> know if AWT apps will work.
> Their opinion whether the project is stable enough right now that they would
> recommend it themselves for production applications ?
>
> Without much tuning, I did try mysaifu with one of our apps on the newer
> device and it promptly ran out of memory. I adjusted the heap size between 1
> MB and 4 MB and it didn't seem to affect the outcome.
>
> Thanks ahead of time for any help.
>
> John
>  

Craig Vanderborgh of Voxware is rumored to be running gcj/libgcj on
arm-wince.  You could try to contact him for more information (search
the archives of this list to find his e-mail address).

David Daney

>>>>> "John" == John R Broderick <jjbroderick@...> writes:

John> I work for a large organization that is primarily a Java
John> shop. We have several AWT applications deployed on ARM powered
John> Windows CE devices running a PersonalJava JVM.

Note that libgcj does not have Windows peers for AWT.
Maybe Harmony's could be reused, with some work.

John> Their opinion whether the project is stable enough right now
John> that they would recommend it themselves for production
John> applications ?

Sure.  Best results in an embedded scenario will mean a good amount of
tweaking.  But, at least this is possible :)

Tom

[Mark Wielaard]

On Mon, 2006-10-02 at 12:23 -0600, Tom Tromey wrote:
> >>>>> "John" == John R Broderick <jjbroderick@...> writes:
>
> John> I work for a large organization that is primarily a Java
> John> shop. We have several AWT applications deployed on ARM powered
> John> Windows CE devices running a PersonalJava JVM.
>
> Note that libgcj does not have Windows peers for AWT.

There is a GNU Classpath port to Windows Mobile (Mysaifu):
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~dat/java/project/jvm/index_en.html

Cheers,

Mark