Main Page

From IcedTea

Jump to: navigation, search

IcedTea

The IcedTea project provides a harness to build the source code from http://openjdk.java.net using Free Software build tools and adds a number of key features to the upstream OpenJDK codebase:

  • A Free 64-bit plugin with LiveConnect and Java Web Start support (see IcedTea-Web).
  • Support for additional platforms via a pure interpreted mode in HotSpot (Zero) or the alternative CACAO virtual machine. Experimental JIT support for Zero is also available via Shark.

Read the Original Announcement

As well as IcedTea, the repository now also contains:

  • IcePick, which allows the OpenJDK language tools (javac, javadoc, javah, javap, apt) to be built separately using any 1.5 compliant Java compiler and be used by any GNU Classpath based runtime
  • BrandWeg, which adds elements of OpenJDK to the existing sources of GNU Classpath.
  • Build support for VisualVM, a lightweight profiler and troubleshooting tool.

Also of relevance is the CVMI OpenJDK project, which aims to document the OpenJDK VM interface and foster links with alternative VMs. Discussion of this takes place on cvmi-dev@openjdk.java.net and on the CVMIDiscussion page here on the IcedTea wiki.

Contents

Getting IcedTea

Stable releases (currently the IcedTea6 1.8, 1.9, 1.10 and 1.11 series of releases based on OpenJDK6, and IcedTea7 2.0, based on OpenJDK7) and RPMs of IcedTea are available on the Downloads page.

Full details of the latest stable IcedTea6 releases and the IcedTea7 release are available on the release maintainer's blog.

Note that versioning works as follows:

  • The major version corresponds to a specific JDK (1 = OpenJDK6, 2 = OpenJDK7, 3 = OpenJDK8). Early pre-releases of OpenJDK7 also used a major version number of 1, so the nomenclature 'IcedTeaX' also tends to be used to indicate which JDK the release applies to (where X is the JDK version).
  • The minor version corresponds to a specific release branch, and usually brings a significant number of new features and improvements. Three minor versions tend to be supported at any one time; see our release policy.
  • The macro version corresponds to a new minor update of a particular release branch, and includes security fixes and important bug fixes which have been backported from the main development tree.

Quickstart & Building

Firstly, download the latest release of IcedTea6; see above. We recommend the one with the highest version number. You should then unpack and build the release as follows: 

$ ./configure
$ make

New releases are announced on the release maintainer's blog and on our mailing list.

Additional instructions are also available for Debian, Fedora, RHEL 5.x and Gentoo. Please beware that these may be outdated; updates are welcome.

A full list of required packages is available at BuildRequirements. CommonIssues lists some of the problems you may encounter in building IcedTea and their solution. Note that JAVA_HOME should be unset before attempting to build IcedTea.

Any bugs found should be filed in our bug database.

Contributing to IcedTea

All contributions to IcedTea are greatly welcomed. The best way to get involved is to sign up to our mailing list and tell us what you're interested in doing. We don't bite -- honest! -- unless asked. Please be respectful when posting to the mailing list, and treat others as you would wish to be treated. We are generally a friendly bunch and it makes for a better working environment for all if you refrain from making aggressive remarks or personal attacks.

IcedTea is maintained in a number of Mercurial repositories. Details of these can be found on the developer's quick start page.

We maintain a CommitPolicy here on the wiki. Please follow this; it applies to all IcedTea projects. This wiki also provides details of our ReleasePolicy, which can be a little complicated at first, and our release process.

FAQs

Upstream Links

Retrieved from "http://www.iced-tea.org/wiki/Main_Page"
Personal tools