Here are some answers to questions about the JDK source code.
$Id: 09-source.sgml,v 1.1 1998/11/13 02:50:16 stevemw Exp $
Building the JDK on Linux with patches supplied by Steve Byrne is fairly straightforward. See http://www.blackdown.org/~sbb for the diffs and some additional details.
I encourage you to read README.linux.src from the patched source distribution if you plan to undertake this project. You will need to sign a license agreement with Javasoft in order to download the sources.
See section Could You Give Me a Pointer to Sun's Licensing Agreement? below for details.
In order to obtain the JDK sources, first you must read, sign, and FAX in an agreement with Sun. The agreement can be found at http://www.javasoft.com/nav/business/source_form.html.
Please read the http://www.place.org/~stevemw/java/FAQ/README.linux.src file.
You can build the JDK against Lesstif, the Hungry Programmers' GNU copylefted implementation of the Motif API. For more information, visit their website at http://www.lesstif.org. Make sure you get the "current" distribution. They are very responsive to accurate bug and problem reports.
On the other hand, a number of Motif developer library vendors exist for Linux systems. I recommend you read the Motif comp.windows.x.motif news group FAQ. You can find it here: http://www.rahul.net/kenton/faqs/mfaq_index.html.
Make sure you're building all the targets Steve Byrne suggests in http://www.place.org/~stevemw/java/FAQ/README.linux.src. Here's an example:
make DESTDIR="$ALT_JAVAHOME/jdk116v2b" RELEASE="MY-JDK1.1.6-V2B" \
appletviewer jre_only 2>&1 | tee MakeOut-V2B1-BUILD-01
ALT_JAVAHOME set to
the javasrc/build, just above the genunix/
target directory. You should be able to set ALTMOTIF_DIR to
where you've installed Lesstif.
Note: you ought to have ALT_BOOTDIR set to a running JDK 1.1,
and I build with CLASSPATH and JAVA_HOME unset.
Please stay tuned to the mailing list for announcements.