Re: API clean up patch

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Archie" == Archie Cobbs <address@hidden> writes:

Archie> I'd like to throw this patch out for comments; it fixes some
Archie> of the inconsistencies in our VM interface.

Mostly I like it...

Archie> Of course, many VM implementors will want to modify the
Archie> "stock" Classpath API, which is fine.. I'd just like to not
Archie> *require* them to do so if they'd prefer to use Classpath
Archie> as-is.

Defaults-setting is hard, since opinions may vary, but I'm ok with us
making methods where we can't write a reference implementation
'native'.  That probably fits with the majority of users.  Individual
cases can always be up for discussion anyway.

Archie> Along with these changes are removal of some deprecated stuff that's
Archie> been marked "this will be removed in a future version of classpath"
Archie> for a long time, and some other minor cleanups.

Great.

Archie>    - Add a "vmdata" field to ClassLoader, VMThread, and VMThrowable.
Archie>      Seems to me that every VM will require these (am I wrong?)

I don't get this part, since we don't need this in libgcj.
Could you elaborate on your need for it?

Archie> Yes this changes the API, but IMHO until the major version number of
Archie> Classpath is a non-zero number we shouldn't worry about that too much..
Archie> better to clean house now while we still can..

We've change the VM interface in most releases AFAIK.
While I think we're probably waiting too long to have a 1.0 release,
I also think we don't have to promise any kind of vm layer
compatibility until we actually make 1.0.

Tom