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Contents

• Introduction
• System Requirements
• Installation
• Java 2 SDK Documentation
• Release Notes
• Compatibility
• Bug Reports and Feedback
• Contents of the Java 2 SDK
• Java 2 Runtime Environment
• Blackdown Java-Linux Web Pages
• Web Pages
• Credits

Thank you for downloading this release of the Blackdown Java-Linux Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition. The Java 2 SDK is a development environment for building applications, applets, and components using the Java programming language.

The Java 2 SDK includes tools useful for developing and testing programs written in the Java programming language and running on the Java platform. These tools are designed to be used from the command line. Except for the appletviewer, these tools do not provide a graphical user interface.

This release includes the Java Plug-in product as part of the Java 2 Runtime Environment. You can use the Java Plug-in to enable your browser to run applets based on the Java 2 platform.

This release includes both the HotSpot Server and Client VMs. The HotSpot Client VM is used by default. The Java2 SDK also contains the native threads and green threads Classic VMs. Unlike in Java2 v1.2.2 the JIT compiler for the classic VM is not enabled by default, you have to set JAVA_COMPILER=sunwjit or use -Djava.compiler=sunwjit if you want to use the bundled JIT compiler with the classic VM.

This version of the Java 2 SDK is supported on Linux systems running the Linux kernel v 2.2.16 or newer and glibc v 2.1.3 or newer. Blackdown does support running the Java 2 SDK on SMP kernels.

You should have about 80 megabytes of free disk space before attempting to install the Java 2 SDK software. If you also install the separate documentation download bundle, you need an additional 130 megabytes of free disk space. NOTE: This version does not work with glibc-2.1.92 (a broken glibc-2.2 test release) which is shipped with RedHat 7.0. Please get the necessary updates/fixes from the RedHat site.

Installation instructions are in the local INSTALL file and at the Blackdown Java-Linux web site.

The on-line Java 2 Platform Documentation contains API specifications, feature descriptions, developer guides, reference pages for SDK tools and utilities, demos, and links to related information. This documentation is also available in a download bundle which you can install on your machine. To obtain the documentation bundle, see the download page web site.

For API documentation, refer to the following sources:

• The Java 2 Platform API Specification This provides brief descriptions of the API with an emphasis on specifications, not on code examples.

• The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, published by Addison-Wesley Longman as part of The Java Series. These volumes include much more elaborate descriptions, with definitions of terminology and examples for classes, interfaces and members in ten core packages.

Release Notes

See the Release Notes on the web site for additional information pertaining to this release. The on-line release notes file will be updated as needed; so you should check it occasionally for the latest information.

See Compatibility with Previous Releases on the Java Software web site for the list of known compatibility issues. Every effort has been made to support programs written for previous version of the Java platform. Although some incompatible changes were necessary, most software should migrate to current version with no reprogramming. Any failure to do so is considered a bug, except for a small number of cases where compatibility was deliberately broken, as described on our compatibility web page. Some compatibility-breaking changes were required to close potential security holes or to fix implementation or design bugs.

If you think you have found a Blackdown specific bug please take a look at our known bugs page before submitting a bug at our bug reporting page.

This section contains a general summary of the files and directories in the Java 2 SDK. For details on the files and directories, see SDK File Structure portion of the J2SE documentation.

Development Tools

(In the bin subdirectory.) Tools and utilities that will help you develop, execute, debug, and document programs written in the Java programming language. For further information, see the tool documentation.

Runtime Environment

(In the jre subdirectory.) An implementation of the Java 2 runtime environment for use by the SDK. The runtime environment includes a Java virtual machine, class libraries, and other files that support the execution of programs written in the Java programming language.

Additional Libraries

(In the lib subdirectory.) Additional class libraries and support files required by the development tools.

Demo Applets and Applications

(In the demo subdirectory.) Examples, with source code, of programming for the Java platform. These include examples that use Swing and other Java Foundation Classes, and the Java Platform Debugger Architecture.

C header Files

(In the include subdirectory.) Header files that support native-code programming using the Java Native Interface, the Java Virtual Machine Debugger Interface, the Java Virtual Machine Profiler Interface and other functionality of the Java 2 Platform.

Source Code

(In src.jar archive file.) Java programming language source files for all classes that make up the Java 2 core API (that is, sources files for the java.*, javax.* and org.omg.* packages, but not for com.sun.* packages). This source code is provided for informational purposes only, to help developers learn and use the Java programming language. These files do not include platform-specific implementation code and cannot be used to rebuild the class libraries. To extract these file, use this command:

    jar xvf src.jar

Do not modify core API source files. To extend the behavior of the core API, write subclasses of the core API classes.

For API documentation, refer to the following sources:

• The Java Platform API Specification. This provides brief descriptions of the API with an emphasis on specifications, not on examples.

• The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition, published by Addison-Wesley Longman as part of The Java Series. These volumes include much more elaborate descriptions, with definitions of terminology and examples for practically every class, interface and member.

The Java 2 Runtime Environment is available as a separately downloadable product. See the J2SE download web site.

The Java 2 Runtime Environment allows you to run applications written in the Java programming language. Like the Java 2 SDK, it contains the Java virtual machine, classes comprising the Java 2 Platform API, and supporting files. Unlike the Java 2 SDK, it does not contain development tools such as compilers and debuggers.

You can freely redistribute the Java 2 Runtime Environment with your application, according to the terms of the Runtime Environment's license. Once you have developed your application using the Java 2 SDK, you can ship it with the Runtime Environment so your end-users will have a Java platform on which to run your software. It is typically preferable to ship the Java 2 Runtime Environment rather than the Java 2 SDK with your application because the Java 2 Runtime Environment is smaller than the Java 2 SDK.

Note that the Java 2 SDK has an internal implementation of a Java runtime environment for its own use. This internal runtime environment is contained in the SDK's jre directory. Don't confuse the SDK's internal runtime environment with the Java 2 Runtime Environment, which is a separately installable product.

For additional information, refer to these Blackdown Java-Linux pages on the World Wide Web:

http://www.blackdown.org/

The Blackdown Java-Linux web site, with the latest information on product information, news, and features.

http://www.blackdown.org/java-linux/java2-status/

Blackdown Java-Linux Status and Information page.

http://www.blackdown.org/java-linux/mirrors.html

Blackdown Java-Linux FTP mirrors.

For additional information, refer to these Sun Microsystems pages on the World Wide Web:

http://java.sun.com/

The Java Software web site, with the latest information on Java technology, product information, news, and features.

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/

Java 2 SDK web site

http://java.sun.com/docs

Java Platform Documentation provides access to white papers, the Java Tutorial and other documents.

http://java.sun.com/jdc

The Java Developer Connection web site. (Free registration required.) Additional technical information, news, and features; user forums; support information, and much more.

http://java.sun.com/products/

Java Technology Products & API

The following people have helped with the porting of Java 2 to Linux:

• Juergen Kreileder
• Kevin B. Hendricks
• Johan Vos
• Eddie C. Dost
• Scott Hutinger
• Karl Asha
• Kars de Jong
• Calvin Austin
• Matt Peterson
• Steve Byrne
• Anand Palaniswamy
• Tod Matola
• Greg Wolodkin

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