Getting Started: Building and Running VMKit

This page gives you the shortest path to checking out vmkit and demos a few options. This should get you up and running with the minimum of muss and fuss. If you like what you see, please consider getting involved with the vmkit community.

A word of warning

While this work aims to provide a fully functional JVM, it is still early work and is under heavy development.

Some of the common missing pieces in vmkit/llvm are:

1. Mixed interpretation/compilation.
2. Adaptive optimization.

Building vmkit / working with the code

If you would like to check out and build the project, the current scheme is:

1. Checkout LLVM and Clang from SVN head.
• svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk llvm
• cd llvm/tools
• svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk clang
• cd ../..
• ./configure; make ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1
2. Download GNU Classpath 0.97.2:
• tar zxvf classpath-0.97.2.tar.gz
• cd classpath-0.97.2
• ./configure --disable-plugin --disable-examples --disable-Werror; make
• cd lib
• If you are running on Linux:
• ln -s ../native/jni/gtk-peer/.libs/libgtkpeer.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/gconf-peer/.libs/libgconfpeer.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-io/.libs/libjavaio.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-lang/.libs/libjavalangreflect.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-lang/.libs/libjavalang.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-net/.libs/libjavanet.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-nio/.libs/libjavanio.so;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-util/.libs/libjavautil.so;
• If you are running on MacOS:
• ln -s ../native/jni/gtk-peer/.libs/libgtkpeer.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/gconf-peer/.libs/libgconfpeer.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-io/.libs/libjavaio.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-lang/.libs/libjavalangreflect.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-lang/.libs/libjavalang.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-net/.libs/libjavanet.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-nio/.libs/libjavanio.dylib;
• ln -s ../native/jni/java-util/.libs/libjavautil.dylib;
3. Checkout vmkit:
• svn co http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/vmkit/trunk vmkit
4. Configure vmkit:
• ./configure

--with-llvmsrc=<directory>

Tell vmkit where the LLVM source tree is located.


--with-llvmobj=<directory>

Tell vmkit where the LLVM object tree is located.


--with-gnu-classpath-glibj=<file or directory>

Tell vmkit where GNU Classpath glibj.zip is located.


--with-gnu-classpath-libs=<directory>

Tell vmkit where GNU Classpath libs are located.


--with-mmtk-plan=

• org.mmtk.plan.marksweep.MS (default)
• org.mmtk.plan.copyms.CopyMS
• org.mmtk.plan.semispace.SS
• org.mmtk.plan.immix.Immix
• org.mmtk.plan.generational.marksweep.GenMS
• org.mmtk.plan.generational.copying.GenCopy
• org.mmtk.plan.generational.immix.GenImmix

5. Build vmkit:
• cd vmkit
• make ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 (this will give you a release build)
6. Try it out: (assuming vmkit/Release+Asserts/bin is in your path)
• j3 --help
• j3 HelloWorld