OpenJDK Cookbook

By Alex Kasko, Stanislav Kobylyanskiy and Alexey Mironchenko

About This Book

• Gain the skills required to harness the power of OpenJDK's Java implementation
• Extend and adapt Java Platform to develop various types of applications
• A practical guide to learn how to benefit from AdoptOpenJDK programme, a part of the OpenJDK community

Who This Book Is For

If you are an experienced Java developer using Java 7 platform and want to get your grips on OpenJDK for Java development, this is the book for you. JDK users who wish to migrate to OpenJDK will find this book very useful.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Release date: Jan 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781849698412

Book preview

Table of Contents

OpenJDK Cookbook

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Sections

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

There's more…

See also

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Started with OpenJDK

Introduction

Distinguishing OpenJDK from Oracle JDK

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

Installing OpenJDK on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

See also

Configuring OpenJDK on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

Installing OpenJDK on Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Configuring OpenJDK on Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

Navigating through OpenJDK groups and projects

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

2. Building OpenJDK 6

Introduction

Preparing CA certificates

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 6 on Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Setting up the minimum build environment for the most compatible Linux builds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Installing Cygwin for Windows builds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building 32-bit FreeType libraries for OpenJDK 6 on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building 64-bit FreeType libraries for OpenJDK 6 on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building 32-bit OpenJDK 6 on Windows 7 SP1

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building 64-bit OpenJDK 6 on Windows 7 x64 SP1

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

3. Building OpenJDK 7

Introduction

Building OpenJDK 7 on Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 7 on Mac OS X

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building 32-bit FreeType libraries for OpenJDK 7 on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building 64-bit FreeType libraries for OpenJDK 7 on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building 32-bit OpenJDK 7 on Windows 7 SP1

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building 64-bit OpenJDK 7 on Windows 7 x64 SP1

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing a standalone toolchain for 32- and 64-bit Windows' builds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

4. Building OpenJDK 8

Introduction

Working with GNU Autoconf

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 8 Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using ccache to speed up the OpenJDK 8 build process

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 8 on Mac OS X

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 8 on Windows 7 SP1

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

5. Building IcedTea

Introduction

Building IcedTea 6

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building IcedTea 7

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 7 with IcedTea patches

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building IcedTea 7 with the NSS security provider

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building IcedTea 6 with the SystemTap support

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

See also

6. Building IcedTea with Other VM Implementations

Introduction

Configuring cross-compilation between ARM and x86

Getting ready

How to do it...

Configuring OpenEmbedded build manually

Using the Hob utility to configure the OpenEmbedded build

After the build

How it works…

There's more...

Configure problems – when a header file is not found

Fetch problems – where your package is not accessible through any mirror available

Compile problems – where a compile error occurs

Parsing problems – where your recipes cannot be parsed

Building IcedTea for ARM with integrated CACAO VM

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

Porting JamVM to use OpenJDK

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more

Configuring Zero-assembler with the Shark compiler to use OpenJDK

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more

Building for MIPS and other architectures using OpenEmbedded recipes

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

7. Working with WebStart and the Browser Plugin

Introduction

Building the IcedTea browser plugin on Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using the IcedTea Java WebStart implementation on Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Preparing the IcedTea Java WebStart implementation for Mac OS X

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing the IcedTea Java WebStart implementation for Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

8. Hacking OpenJDK

Introduction

Setting up the development environment with NetBeans

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with Mercurial forest

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

Understanding OpenJDK 6 and 7 incremental builds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more…

Debugging Java code using NetBeans

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

Debugging C++ code using NetBeans

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

Using NetBeans to compile HotSpot

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

Using HotSpot dev parameters

Getting ready

How to do it...

Adding new intrinsic to HotSpot

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more…

Building VisualVM from the source code

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Creating a plugin for VisualVM

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Getting benefits from the AdoptOpenJDK project

Getting ready

How to do it...

Visualizing JIT logs

Securing your javadocs

How it works…

There's more...

9. Testing OpenJDK

Introduction

Running tests using the downloaded or the built version of jtreg

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

Building jtreg from the source

Getting ready

How to do it...

Running the standard set of OpenJDK tests

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Writing your own test for jtreg

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

Using jtreg in GUI mode

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

Writing TestNG tests for jtreg

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

Compiling JT Harness from the source code

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Building and running jcstress

Getting ready

How to do it…

There's more...

Writing tests for jcstress

Getting ready

How to do it…

See also

Creating a benchmark project using JMH

Getting ready

How to do it…

There's more…

See also

Downloading the source and compiling JHM

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

10. Contributing to OpenJDK

Introduction

Becoming a contributor

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Generating a patch with webrev

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

There's more...

See also

Backporting OpenJDK v9 patches to OpenJDK v8

Getting ready

How to do it…

See also

Understanding OpenJDK groups

Getting ready

How to do it…

See also

Understanding OpenJDK projects

How to do it…

See also

Suggesting new JSRs

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Suggesting new JEPs

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

11. Troubleshooting

Introduction

Navigating through the process workflow

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works…

Submitting a defect to the OpenJDK bug systems

How to do it...

How it works…

Creating a patch using NetBeans

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works

See also...

Creating a code review

Getting ready

How to do it...

12. Working with Future Technologies

Introduction

Building OpenJDK 9 on Mac OS X using Clang

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building OpenJDK 9 on Windows using MSYS

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Running and testing the early access preview of OpenJDK 9

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using Jigsaw

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Building OpenJDK 9 with Graal

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Building OpenJDK 9 with Sumatra

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

13. Build Automation

Introduction

Installing VirtualBox

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing SSH keys

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing VirtualBox machines with Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing VirtualBox machines with Mac OS X

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Preparing VirtualBox machines with Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Automating builds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building cross-platform installers

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Index

OpenJDK Cookbook

---

OpenJDK Cookbook

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: January 2015

Production reference: 1240115

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-84969-840-5

www.packtpub.com

Cover image by Benoit Benedetti (<[e-mail]>)

Credits

Authors

Alex Kasko

Stanislav Kobylyanskiy

Alexey Mironchenko

Reviewers

Usman Saleem

Otávio Santana

Martin Toshev

Commissioning Editor

Aarthi Kumaraswamy

Acquisition Editor

Vinay Argekar

Content Development Editor

Athira Laji

Technical Editor

Mrunmayee Patil

Copy Editors

Shivangi Chaturvedi

Pranjali Chury

Jasmine Nadar

Merilyn Pereira

Project Coordinator

Harshal Ved

Proofreaders

Samuel Redman Birch

Ameesha Green

Paul Hindle

Kevin McGowan

Indexer

Hemangini Bari

Graphics

Disha Haria

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Authors

Alex Kasko is a participant in the OpenJDK project. He maintains unofficial OpenJDK builds on his GitHub account and has 8 years' experience in enterprise and high-performance programming. He works in an OpenJDK development team at Red Hat Inc.

Stanislav Kobylyanskiy is a software developer with years of Java experience. He started his career with C++ and system programming in the late 90s with the Aelita software (now DELL). After a few years, he switched to Java and then moved to telecom. At that time, he joined T-Mobile, UK, to rebuild their Customer Service Web Portal, which lasted for about 4 years. Currently, he is with an investment bank where he is working on a strategic algorithmic trading platform. He is continuously looking for new challenges and to extend his knowledge of core Java technologies.

I want to say thank you to my family—my two lovely daughters, Alyssa and Alexandra, and to my beloved wife, Natalia—for all their help and support in everything I do.

Alexey Mironchenko is a software developer with experience in scalable enterprise projects, involving Java EE, NoSQL databases, and various other frameworks. He has a mathematical background with some COQ and Maxima experience, and his hobby is to test cutting-edge technologies that are open source or in early access.

About the Reviewers

Usman Saleem is a seasoned software developer with special focus on Java, JEE, PostgreSQL, and utilizing open source tools in software development in general. He has worked with EnterpriseDB, OpenSCG, Red Hat, and Ventyx, Australia. He has taught object-oriented programming and enterprise software development in several public and private sector universities to undergraduate students. When he is not (re)writing his blog software, he likes trying out various strength training workouts or playing Angry Birds with his son.

Usman has an MSc (CS) degree and holds RHCSA, SCWCD, SCBCD, SCJD, and SCJP certifications. He maintains his blog at http://www.usmans.info.

Otávio Santana (@otaviojava) is a developer and enthusiast of open source. He is an evangelist and practitioner of agile philosophy and polyglot development in Brazil. Otávio is a JUG leader of JavaBahia and SouJava and a strong supporter of Java communities in Brazil, where he also leads the BrasilJUGs initiative to incorporate Brazilian JUGs into joint activities. He is a cocreator and is also responsible for the Linguagil Group—a merge of Java, Ruby, Python, and Agile groups that promote agility across language-focused communities. In the open source world, Otávio is a developer in OpenJDK and a creator of Apache Easy-Cassandra. He has also helped in JBoss Weld, Hibernate, Apache Commons, and other open source projects. Otávio is a very active speaker in Brazil, where he has participated in the largest Java events in the country. As an international speaker, Otávio has presented in JavaOne and the Cassandra tour events. Otávio is also a writer and has many articles and even a book on JVM Internals. Otávio Santana actually means make the future Java, working in several Java Specification Request (JSR), JAR, as part of the Java Expert team. Otávio was recently nominated and won JCP's Outstanding Adopt-a-JSR Participant of the Year award for his very active role in several JSRs and OpenJDK.

Martin Toshev is a software engineer by profession and hobby. He has been working on a number of large enterprise projects for different companies for the past 5 years using mostly the Java technology stack. He has experience in the areas of social networking and J2EE middleware and is a contributor to the OpenJDK platform.

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Preface

OpenJDK is a unique project that opens numerous and exciting opportunities for people who want to dive into the huge and complicated infrastructure behind the JVM. There is an incredible amount of things to learn and to explore. Almost anyone can find something in it as per their interest, starting from HTTP, Web, software dependency problems, and ending with hardware-specific JIT optimization techniques, and concurrency challenges. Such variety is very unique and it would be true to say that there is no other open source project that can provide something similar. The other factor is that there are not so many other open source projects on that scale; possibly only the Linux core. Such scale requires a non-trivial organizational approach and, to be involved in that process, to see how it works, is a very interesting insight.

This cookbook will lead you through steps to take you into the world of OpenJDK as smoothly as possible. It starts by explaining how to download the source code and how to build the different versions of OpenJDK, how to set it up on a machine, and what different options are available. Then, you will learn how to set up the development environment (IDE) required for editing and debugging C++ and Java source code, and how to start making changes. It will go through some examples, which you may decide to change in various parts of OpenJDK. Further, it will cover the tools available for testing, benchmarking, and ensuring that the changes you have made are not breaking the existing functionality. As OpenJDK is a big project with its own rules and processes, there will be a part covering the procedures that are involved in making changes or fixing bugs, the lifecycle of projects, JSRs, JEPs, and so on. At the end, there will be a section about future work that is planned to be included in forthcoming releases; that part will be the most interesting section for anyone who is interested in the future direction of OpenJDK and wants to try something new, which is not yet available in the stable product.

In addition, this book contains many practical examples which should be useful to any developer who is working with OpenJDK or any other Java technology. They are available in simple form, which allows you to quickly copy and use them for your own project.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with OpenJDK, provides an overview of OpenJDK, explains what it is, and covers the basic steps required to have OpenJDK running and properly configured on the machine.

Chapter 2, Building OpenJDK 6, covers the steps required to build OpenJDK Version 6. This build is very different from OpenJDK 7 and OpenJDK 8 and requires more manual work to be done.

Chapter 3, Building OpenJDK 7, covers the steps required to build OpenJDK Version 7. Building OpenJDK 7 is an easier and more enjoyable process, compared to OpenJDK 6.

Chapter 4, Building OpenJDK 8, covers the steps required to build OpenJDK Version 8.

Chapter 5, Building IcedTea, teaches you how to build a set of tools that are developed apart from OpenJDK. These tools are replaced with some proprietary bits that are not available as open source, which include a browser plugin, Java WebStart, and so on.

Chapter 6, Building IcedTea with Other VM Implementations, covers some interesting VM projects, which also can benefit from the features provided by IcedTea, and how to build that product using these VMs and non-x86 CPUs.

Chapter 7, Working with WebStart and the Browser Plugin, will cover the configuration and installation of WebStart and browser plugin components, which are the biggest parts of the IcedTea project.

Chapter 8, Hacking OpenJDK, covers some bits which are required to start digging into the OpenJDK source code. Such things are the installation and setup of IDE, debugging, and updating HotSpot source code. There are also some useful examples of what the developer can do, for example, implementing your own intrinsic details.

Chapter 9, Testing OpenJDK, will go through an approach used in OpenJDK to test the source code and, since writing code is not enough, we need to write high quality product on which the code has to be tested. This chapter will also show you some examples to use the latest available tools.

Chapter 10, Contributing to OpenJDK, explains how OpenJDK is changing and evolving, how changes are executed, and what one needs to do to participate or to facilitate changes in OpenJDK. Some of these changes, if they are big enough, can take years to appear in the production version.

Chapter 11, Troubleshooting, teaches you about one of the most important parts of any project: bug fixing. It is important to understand which tools and processes are involved. In this chapter, we will cover some important steps, from submitting defects, to pushing the fix into the shared repository.

Chapter 12, Working with Future Technologies, covers some future developments in OpenJDK. As with any big project, OpenJDK has a roadmap with some exciting and promising projects for the next releases. That is exactly what this chapter is about. It lists all the steps required to download sources, build, and run some examples, where possible.

Chapter 13, Build Automation, provides some useful tips for automating the build process. It will be