1 % Building the JDK
2
3 ## TL;DR (Instructions for the Impatient)
4
5 If you are eager to try out building the JDK, these simple steps works most of
6 the time. They assume that you have installed Mercurial (and Cygwin if running
7 on Windows) and cloned the top-level JDK repository that you want to build.
8
9 1. [Get the complete source code](#getting-the-source-code): \
10 `hg clone http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk/jdk`
11
12 2. [Run configure](#running-configure): \
13 `bash configure`
14
15 If `configure` fails due to missing dependencies (to either the
16 [toolchain](#native-compiler-toolchain-requirements), [build tools](
17 #build-tools-requirements), [external libraries](
18 #external-library-requirements) or the [boot JDK](#boot-jdk-requirements)),
19 most of the time it prints a suggestion on how to resolve the situation on
20 your platform. Follow the instructions, and try running `bash configure`
21 again.
22
23 3. [Run make](#running-make): \
24 `make images`
25
26 4. Verify your newly built JDK: \
27 `./build/*/images/jdk/bin/java -version`
28
29 5. [Run basic tests](##running-tests): \
30 `make run-test-tier1`
31
32 If any of these steps failed, or if you want to know more about build
33 requirements or build functionality, please continue reading this document.
34
35 ## Introduction
36
37 The JDK is a complex software project. Building it requires a certain amount of
38 technical expertise, a fair number of dependencies on external software, and
39 reasonably powerful hardware.
40
41 If you just want to use the JDK and not build it yourself, this document is not
42 for you. See for instance [OpenJDK installation](
43 http://openjdk.java.net/install) for some methods of installing a prebuilt
44 JDK.
45
46 ## Getting the Source Code
47
48 Make sure you are getting the correct version. As of JDK 10, the source is no
49 longer split into separate repositories so you only need to clone one single
50 repository. At the [OpenJDK Mercurial server](http://hg.openjdk.java.net/) you
51 can see a list of all available repositories. If you want to build an older version,
52 e.g. JDK 8, it is recommended that you get the `jdk8u` forest, which contains
53 incremental updates, instead of the `jdk8` forest, which was frozen at JDK 8 GA.
54
55 If you are new to Mercurial, a good place to start is the [Mercurial Beginner's
56 Guide](http://www.mercurial-scm.org/guide). The rest of this document assumes a
57 working knowledge of Mercurial.
58
59 ### Special Considerations
60
61 For a smooth building experience, it is recommended that you follow these rules
62 on where and how to check out the source code.
63
64 * Do not check out the source code in a path which contains spaces. Chances
65 are the build will not work. This is most likely to be an issue on Windows
66 systems.
67
68 * Do not check out the source code in a path which has a very long name or is
69 nested many levels deep. Chances are you will hit an OS limitation during
70 the build.
71
72 * Put the source code on a local disk, not a network share. If possible, use
73 an SSD. The build process is very disk intensive, and having slow disk
74 access will significantly increase build times. If you need to use a
75 network share for the source code, see below for suggestions on how to keep
76 the build artifacts on a local disk.
77
78 * On Windows, extra care must be taken to make sure the [Cygwin](#cygwin)
79 environment is consistent. It is recommended that you follow this
80 procedure:
81
82 * Create the directory that is going to contain the top directory of the
83 JDK clone by using the `mkdir` command in the Cygwin bash shell.
84 That is, do *not* create it using Windows Explorer. This will ensure
85 that it will have proper Cygwin attributes, and that it's children will
86 inherit those attributes.
87
88 * Do not put the JDK clone in a path under your Cygwin home
89 directory. This is especially important if your user name contains
90 spaces and/or mixed upper and lower case letters.
91
92 * Clone the JDK repository using the Cygwin command line `hg` client
93 as instructed in this document. That is, do *not* use another Mercurial
94 client such as TortoiseHg.
95
96 Failure to follow this procedure might result in hard-to-debug build
97 problems.
98
99 ## Build Hardware Requirements
100
101 The JDK is a massive project, and require machines ranging from decent to
102 powerful to be able to build in a reasonable amount of time, or to be able to
103 complete a build at all.
104
105 We *strongly* recommend usage of an SSD disk for the build, since disk speed is
106 one of the limiting factors for build performance.
107
108 ### Building on x86
109
110 At a minimum, a machine with 2-4 cores is advisable, as well as 2-4 GB of RAM.
111 (The more cores to use, the more memory you need.) At least 6 GB of free disk
112 space is required (8 GB minimum for building on Solaris).
113
114 Even for 32-bit builds, it is recommended to use a 64-bit build machine, and
115 instead create a 32-bit target using `--with-target-bits=32`.
116
117 ### Building on sparc
118
119 At a minimum, a machine with 4 cores is advisable, as well as 4 GB of RAM. (The
120 more cores to use, the more memory you need.) At least 8 GB of free disk space
121 is required.
122
123 ### Building on aarch64
124
125 At a minimum, a machine with 8 cores is advisable, as well as 8 GB of RAM.
126 (The more cores to use, the more memory you need.) At least 6 GB of free disk
127 space is required.
128
129 If you do not have access to sufficiently powerful hardware, it is also
130 possible to use [cross-compiling](#cross-compiling).
131
132 ### Building on 32-bit arm
133
134 This is not recommended. Instead, see the section on [Cross-compiling](
135 #cross-compiling).
136
137 ## Operating System Requirements
138
139 The mainline JDK project supports Linux, Solaris, macOS, AIX and Windows.
140 Support for other operating system, e.g. BSD, exists in separate "port"
141 projects.
142
143 In general, the JDK can be built on a wide range of versions of these operating
144 systems, but the further you deviate from what is tested on a daily basis, the
145 more likely you are to run into problems.
146
147 This table lists the OS versions used by Oracle when building the JDK. Such
148 information is always subject to change, but this table is up to date at the
149 time of writing.
150
151 Operating system Vendor/version used
152 ----------------- -------------------------------------------------------
153 Linux Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.4 / 7.1 (using kernel 3.8.13)
154 Solaris Solaris 11.1 SRU 21.4.1 / 11.2 SRU 5.5
155 macOS Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) / 10.10 (Yosemite)
156 Windows Windows Server 2012 R2
157
158 The double version numbers for Linux, Solaris and macOS is due to the hybrid
159 model used at Oracle, where header files and external libraries from an older
160 version are used when building on a more modern version of the OS.
161
162 The Build Group has a wiki page with [Supported Build Platforms](
163 https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/Build/Supported+Build+Platforms). From
164 time to time, this is updated by contributors to list successes or failures of
165 building on different platforms.
166
167 ### Windows
168
169 Windows XP is not a supported platform, but all newer Windows should be able to
170 build the JDK.
171
172 On Windows, it is important that you pay attention to the instructions in the
173 [Special Considerations](#special-considerations).
174
175 Windows is the only non-POSIX OS supported by the JDK, and as such, requires
176 some extra care. A POSIX support layer is required to build on Windows.
177 Currently, the only supported such layer is Cygwin. (Msys is no longer
178 supported due to a too old bash; msys2 and the new Windows Subsystem for Linux
179 (WSL) would likely be possible to support in a future version but that would
180 require effort to implement.)
181
182 Internally in the build system, all paths are represented as Unix-style paths,
183 e.g. `/cygdrive/c/hg/jdk9/Makefile` rather than `C:\hg\jdk9\Makefile`. This
184 rule also applies to input to the build system, e.g. in arguments to
185 `configure`. So, use `--with-msvcr-dll=/cygdrive/c/msvcr100.dll` rather than
186 `--with-msvcr-dll=c:\msvcr100.dll`. For details on this conversion, see the section
187 on [Fixpath](#fixpath).
188
189 #### Cygwin
190
191 A functioning [Cygwin](http://www.cygwin.com/) environment is thus required for
192 building the JDK on Windows. If you have a 64-bit OS, we strongly recommend
193 using the 64-bit version of Cygwin.
194
195 **Note:** Cygwin has a model of continuously updating all packages without any
196 easy way to install or revert to a specific version of a package. This means
197 that whenever you add or update a package in Cygwin, you might (inadvertently)
198 update tools that are used by the JDK build process, and that can cause
199 unexpected build problems.
200
201 The JDK requires GNU Make 4.0 or greater on Windows. This is usually not a
202 problem, since Cygwin currently only distributes GNU Make at a version above
203 4.0.
204
205 Apart from the basic Cygwin installation, the following packages must also be
206 installed:
207
208 * `autoconf`
209 * `make`
210 * `zip`
211 * `unzip`
212
213 Often, you can install these packages using the following command line:
214 ```
215 <path to Cygwin setup>/setup-x86_64 -q -P autoconf -P make -P unzip -P zip
216 ```
217
218 Unfortunately, Cygwin can be unreliable in certain circumstances. If you
219 experience build tool crashes or strange issues when building on Windows,
220 please check the Cygwin FAQ on the ["BLODA" list](
221 https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.using.bloda) and the section on [fork()
222 failures](https://cygwin.com/faq/faq.html#faq.using.fixing-fork-failures).
223
224 ### Solaris
225
226 See `make/devkit/solaris11.1-package-list.txt` for a list of recommended
227 packages to install when building on Solaris. The versions specified in this
228 list is the versions used by the daily builds at Oracle, and is likely to work
229 properly.
230
231 Older versions of Solaris shipped a broken version of `objcopy`. At least
232 version 2.21.1 is needed, which is provided by Solaris 11 Update 1. Objcopy is
233 needed if you want to have external debug symbols. Please make sure you are
234 using at least version 2.21.1 of objcopy, or that you disable external debug
235 symbols.
236
237 ### macOS
238
239 Apple is using a quite aggressive scheme of pushing OS updates, and coupling
240 these updates with required updates of Xcode. Unfortunately, this makes it
241 difficult for a project such as the JDK to keep pace with a continuously updated
242 machine running macOS. See the section on [Apple Xcode](#apple-xcode) on some
243 strategies to deal with this.
244
245 It is recommended that you use at least Mac OS X 10.13 (High Sierra). At the time
246 of writing, the JDK has been successfully compiled on macOS 10.12 (Sierra).
247
248 The standard macOS environment contains the basic tooling needed to build, but
249 for external libraries a package manager is recommended. The JDK uses
250 [homebrew](https://brew.sh/) in the examples, but feel free to use whatever
251 manager you want (or none).
252
253 ### Linux
254
255 It is often not much problem to build the JDK on Linux. The only general advice
256 is to try to use the compilers, external libraries and header files as provided
257 by your distribution.
258
259 The basic tooling is provided as part of the core operating system, but you
260 will most likely need to install developer packages.
261
262 For apt-based distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, etc), try this:
263 ```
264 sudo apt-get install build-essential
265 ```
266
267 For rpm-based distributions (Fedora, Red Hat, etc), try this:
268 ```
269 sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
270 ```
271
272 ### AIX
273
274 The regular builds by SAP is using AIX version 7.1, but AIX 5.3 is also
275 supported. See the [OpenJDK PowerPC Port Status Page](
276 http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~simonis/ppc-aix-port) for details.
277
278 ## Native Compiler (Toolchain) Requirements
279
280 Large portions of the JDK consists of native code, that needs to be compiled to
281 be able to run on the target platform. In theory, toolchain and operating
282 system should be independent factors, but in practice there's more or less a
283 one-to-one correlation between target operating system and toolchain.
284
285 Operating system Supported toolchain
286 ------------------ -------------------------
287 Linux gcc, clang
288 macOS Apple Xcode (using clang)
289 Solaris Oracle Solaris Studio
290 AIX IBM XL C/C++
291 Windows Microsoft Visual Studio
292
293 Please see the individual sections on the toolchains for version
294 recommendations. As a reference, these versions of the toolchains are used, at
295 the time of writing, by Oracle for the daily builds of the JDK. It should be
296 possible to compile the JDK with both older and newer versions, but the closer
297 you stay to this list, the more likely you are to compile successfully without
298 issues.
299
300 Operating system Toolchain version
301 ------------------ -------------------------------------------------------
302 Linux gcc 7.3.0
303 macOS Apple Xcode 9.4 (using clang 9.1.0)
304 Solaris Oracle Solaris Studio 12.4 (with compiler version 5.13)
305 Windows Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 update 15.5.5
306
307 ### gcc
308
309 The minimum accepted version of gcc is 4.8. Older versions will generate a warning
310 by `configure` and are unlikely to work.
311
312 The JDK is currently known to be able to compile with at least version 7.4 of
313 gcc.
314
315 In general, any version between these two should be usable.
316
317 ### clang
318
319 The minimum accepted version of clang is 3.2. Older versions will not be
320 accepted by `configure`.
321
322 To use clang instead of gcc on Linux, use `--with-toolchain-type=clang`.
323
324 ### Apple Xcode
325
326 The oldest supported version of Xcode is 8.
327
328 You will need the Xcode command lines developers tools to be able to build
329 the JDK. (Actually, *only* the command lines tools are needed, not the IDE.)
330 The simplest way to install these is to run:
331 ```
332 xcode-select --install
333 ```
334
335 It is advisable to keep an older version of Xcode for building the JDK when
336 updating Xcode. This [blog page](
337 http://iosdevelopertips.com/xcode/install-multiple-versions-of-xcode.html) has
338 good suggestions on managing multiple Xcode versions. To use a specific version
339 of Xcode, use `xcode-select -s` before running `configure`, or use
340 `--with-toolchain-path` to point to the version of Xcode to use, e.g.
341 `configure --with-toolchain-path=/Applications/Xcode8.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin`
342
343 If you have recently (inadvertently) updated your OS and/or Xcode version, and
344 the JDK can no longer be built, please see the section on [Problems with the
345 Build Environment](#problems-with-the-build-environment), and [Getting
346 Help](#getting-help) to find out if there are any recent, non-merged patches
347 available for this update.
348
349 ### Oracle Solaris Studio
350
351 The minimum accepted version of the Solaris Studio compilers is 5.13
352 (corresponding to Solaris Studio 12.4). Older versions will not be accepted by
353 configure.
354
355 The Solaris Studio installation should contain at least these packages:
356
357 Package Version
358 -------------------------------------------------- -------------
359 developer/solarisstudio-124/backend 12.4-1.0.6.0
360 developer/solarisstudio-124/c++ 12.4-1.0.10.0
361 developer/solarisstudio-124/cc 12.4-1.0.4.0
362 developer/solarisstudio-124/library/c++-libs 12.4-1.0.10.0
363 developer/solarisstudio-124/library/math-libs 12.4-1.0.0.1
364 developer/solarisstudio-124/library/studio-gccrt 12.4-1.0.0.1
365 developer/solarisstudio-124/studio-common 12.4-1.0.0.1
366 developer/solarisstudio-124/studio-ja 12.4-1.0.0.1
367 developer/solarisstudio-124/studio-legal 12.4-1.0.0.1
368 developer/solarisstudio-124/studio-zhCN 12.4-1.0.0.1
369
370 Compiling with Solaris Studio can sometimes be finicky. This is the exact
371 version used by Oracle, which worked correctly at the time of writing:
372 ```
373 $ cc -V
374 cc: Sun C 5.13 SunOS_i386 2014/10/20
375 $ CC -V
376 CC: Sun C++ 5.13 SunOS_i386 151846-10 2015/10/30
377 ```
378
379 ### Microsoft Visual Studio
380
381 The minimum accepted version of Visual Studio is 2010. Older versions will not
382 be accepted by `configure`. The maximum accepted version of Visual Studio is
383 2017. Versions older than 2017 are unlikely to continue working for long.
384
385 If you have multiple versions of Visual Studio installed, `configure` will by
386 default pick the latest. You can request a specific version to be used by
387 setting `--with-toolchain-version`, e.g. `--with-toolchain-version=2015`.
388
389 If you get `LINK: fatal error LNK1123: failure during conversion to COFF: file
390 invalid` when building using Visual Studio 2010, you have encountered
391 [KB2757355](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2757355), a bug triggered by a
392 specific installation order. However, the solution suggested by the KB article
393 does not always resolve the problem. See [this stackoverflow discussion](
394 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10888391) for other suggestions.
395
396 ### IBM XL C/C++
397
398 The regular builds by SAP is using version 12.1, described as `IBM XL C/C++ for
399 AIX, V12.1 (5765-J02, 5725-C72) Version: 12.01.0000.0017`.
400
401 See the [OpenJDK PowerPC Port Status Page](
402 http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~simonis/ppc-aix-port) for details.
403
404 ## Boot JDK Requirements
405
406 Paradoxically, building the JDK requires a pre-existing JDK. This is called the
407 "boot JDK". The boot JDK does not, however, have to be a JDK built directly from
408 the source code available in the OpenJDK Community. If you are porting the JDK
409 to a new platform, chances are that there already exists another JDK for that
410 platform that is usable as boot JDK.
411
412 The rule of thumb is that the boot JDK for building JDK major version *N*
413 should be a JDK of major version *N-1*, so for building JDK 9 a JDK 8 would be
414 suitable as boot JDK. However, the JDK should be able to "build itself", so an
415 up-to-date build of the current JDK source is an acceptable alternative. If
416 you are following the *N-1* rule, make sure you've got the latest update
417 version, since JDK 8 GA might not be able to build JDK 9 on all platforms.
418
419 Early in the release cycle, version *N-1* may not yet have been released. In
420 that case, the preferred boot JDK will be version *N-2* until version *N-1*
421 is available.
422
423 If the boot JDK is not automatically detected, or the wrong JDK is picked, use
424 `--with-boot-jdk` to point to the JDK to use.
425
426 ### Getting JDK binaries
427
428 JDK binaries for Linux, Windows and macOS can be downloaded from
429 [jdk.java.net](http://jdk.java.net). An alternative is to download the
430 [Oracle JDK](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads). Another
431 is the [Adopt OpenJDK Project](https://adoptopenjdk.net/), which publishes
432 experimental prebuilt binaries for various platforms.
433
434 On Linux you can also get a JDK from the Linux distribution. On apt-based
435 distros (like Debian and Ubuntu), `sudo apt-get install openjdk-<VERSION>-jdk`
436 is typically enough to install a JDK \<VERSION\>. On rpm-based distros (like
437 Fedora and Red Hat), try `sudo yum install java-<VERSION>-openjdk-devel`.
438
439 ## External Library Requirements
440
441 Different platforms require different external libraries. In general, libraries
442 are not optional - that is, they are either required or not used.
443
444 If a required library is not detected by `configure`, you need to provide the
445 path to it. There are two forms of the `configure` arguments to point to an
446 external library: `--with-<LIB>=<path>` or `--with-<LIB>-include=<path to
447 include> --with-<LIB>-lib=<path to lib>`. The first variant is more concise,
448 but require the include files an library files to reside in a default hierarchy
449 under this directory. In most cases, it works fine.
450
451 As a fallback, the second version allows you to point to the include directory
452 and the lib directory separately.
453
454 ### FreeType
455
456 FreeType2 from [The FreeType Project](http://www.freetype.org/) is not required
457 on any platform. The exception is on Unix-based platforms when configuring such
458 that the build artifacts will reference a system installed library,
459 rather than bundling the JDK’s own copy.
460
461 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
462 libfreetype6-dev`.
463 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
464 freetype-devel`.
465 * To install on Solaris, try running `pkg install system/library/freetype-2`.
466
467 Use `--with-freetype-include=<path>` and `--with-freetype-lib=<path>`
468 if `configure` does not automatically locate the platform FreeType files.
469
470 ### CUPS
471
472 CUPS, [Common UNIX Printing System](http://www.cups.org) header files are
473 required on all platforms, except Windows. Often these files are provided by
474 your operating system.
475
476 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
477 libcups2-dev`.
478 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
479 cups-devel`.
480 * To install on Solaris, try running `pkg install print/cups`.
481
482 Use `--with-cups=<path>` if `configure` does not properly locate your CUPS
483 files.
484
485 ### X11
486
487 Certain [X11](http://www.x.org/) libraries and include files are required on
488 Linux and Solaris.
489
490 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
491 libx11-dev libxext-dev libxrender-dev libxtst-dev libxt-dev`.
492 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
493 libXtst-devel libXt-devel libXrender-devel libXi-devel`.
494 * To install on Solaris, try running `pkg install x11/header/x11-protocols
495 x11/library/libice x11/library/libpthread-stubs x11/library/libsm
496 x11/library/libx11 x11/library/libxau x11/library/libxcb
497 x11/library/libxdmcp x11/library/libxevie x11/library/libxext
498 x11/library/libxrender x11/library/libxscrnsaver x11/library/libxtst
499 x11/library/toolkit/libxt`.
500
501 Use `--with-x=<path>` if `configure` does not properly locate your X11 files.
502
503 ### ALSA
504
505 ALSA, [Advanced Linux Sound Architecture](https://www.alsa-project.org/) is
506 required on Linux. At least version 0.9.1 of ALSA is required.
507
508 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
509 libasound2-dev`.
510 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
511 alsa-lib-devel`.
512
513 Use `--with-alsa=<path>` if `configure` does not properly locate your ALSA
514 files.
515
516 ### libffi
517
518 libffi, the [Portable Foreign Function Interface Library](
519 http://sourceware.org/libffi) is required when building the Zero version of
520 Hotspot.
521
522 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
523 libffi-dev`.
524 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
525 libffi-devel`.
526
527 Use `--with-libffi=<path>` if `configure` does not properly locate your libffi
528 files.
529
530 ## Build Tools Requirements
531
532 ### Autoconf
533
534 The JDK requires [Autoconf](http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf) on all
535 platforms. At least version 2.69 is required.
536
537 * To install on an apt-based Linux, try running `sudo apt-get install
538 autoconf`.
539 * To install on an rpm-based Linux, try running `sudo yum install
540 autoconf`.
541 * To install on macOS, try running `brew install autoconf`.
542 * To install on Windows, try running `<path to Cygwin setup>/setup-x86_64 -q
543 -P autoconf`.
544
545 If `configure` has problems locating your installation of autoconf, you can
546 specify it using the `AUTOCONF` environment variable, like this:
547
548 ```
549 AUTOCONF=<path to autoconf> configure ...
550 ```
551
552 ### GNU Make
553
554 The JDK requires [GNU Make](http://www.gnu.org/software/make). No other flavors
555 of make are supported.
556
557 At least version 3.81 of GNU Make must be used. For distributions supporting
558 GNU Make 4.0 or above, we strongly recommend it. GNU Make 4.0 contains useful
559 functionality to handle parallel building (supported by `--with-output-sync`)
560 and speed and stability improvements.
561
562 Note that `configure` locates and verifies a properly functioning version of
563 `make` and stores the path to this `make` binary in the configuration. If you
564 start a build using `make` on the command line, you will be using the version
565 of make found first in your `PATH`, and not necessarily the one stored in the
566 configuration. This initial make will be used as "bootstrap make", and in a
567 second stage, the make located by `configure` will be called. Normally, this
568 will present no issues, but if you have a very old `make`, or a non-GNU Make
569 `make` in your path, this might cause issues.
570
571 If you want to override the default make found by `configure`, use the `MAKE`
572 configure variable, e.g. `configure MAKE=/opt/gnu/make`.
573
574 On Solaris, it is common to call the GNU version of make by using `gmake`.
575
576 ### GNU Bash
577
578 The JDK requires [GNU Bash](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash). No other shells
579 are supported.
580
581 At least version 3.2 of GNU Bash must be used.
582
583 ## Running Configure
584
585 To build the JDK, you need a "configuration", which consists of a directory
586 where to store the build output, coupled with information about the platform,
587 the specific build machine, and choices that affect how the JDK is built.
588
589 The configuration is created by the `configure` script. The basic invocation of
590 the `configure` script looks like this:
591
592 ```
593 bash configure [options]
594 ```
595
596 This will create an output directory containing the configuration and setup an
597 area for the build result. This directory typically looks like
598 `build/linux-x64-normal-server-release`, but the actual name depends on your
599 specific configuration. (It can also be set directly, see [Using Multiple
600 Configurations](#using-multiple-configurations)). This directory is referred to
601 as `$BUILD` in this documentation.
602
603 `configure` will try to figure out what system you are running on and where all
604 necessary build components are. If you have all prerequisites for building
605 installed, it should find everything. If it fails to detect any component
606 automatically, it will exit and inform you about the problem.
607
608 Some command line examples:
609
610 * Create a 32-bit build for Windows with FreeType2 in `C:\freetype-i586`:
611 ```
612 bash configure --with-freetype=/cygdrive/c/freetype-i586 --with-target-bits=32
613 ```
614
615 * Create a debug build with the `server` JVM and DTrace enabled:
616 ```
617 bash configure --enable-debug --with-jvm-variants=server --enable-dtrace
618 ```
619
620 ### Common Configure Arguments
621
622 Here follows some of the most common and important `configure` argument.
623
624 To get up-to-date information on *all* available `configure` argument, please
625 run:
626 ```
627 bash configure --help
628 ```
629
630 (Note that this help text also include general autoconf options, like
631 `--dvidir`, that is not relevant to the JDK. To list only JDK-specific
632 features, use `bash configure --help=short` instead.)
633
634 #### Configure Arguments for Tailoring the Build
635
636 * `--enable-debug` - Set the debug level to `fastdebug` (this is a shorthand
637 for `--with-debug-level=fastdebug`)
638 * `--with-debug-level=<level>` - Set the debug level, which can be `release`,
639 `fastdebug`, `slowdebug` or `optimized`. Default is `release`. `optimized`
640 is variant of `release` with additional Hotspot debug code.
641 * `--with-native-debug-symbols=<method>` - Specify if and how native debug
642 symbols should be built. Available methods are `none`, `internal`,
643 `external`, `zipped`. Default behavior depends on platform. See [Native
644 Debug Symbols](#native-debug-symbols) for more details.
645 * `--with-version-string=<string>` - Specify the version string this build
646 will be identified with.
647 * `--with-version-<part>=<value>` - A group of options, where `<part>` can be
648 any of `pre`, `opt`, `build`, `major`, `minor`, `security` or `patch`. Use
649 these options to modify just the corresponding part of the version string
650 from the default, or the value provided by `--with-version-string`.
651 * `--with-jvm-variants=<variant>[,<variant>...]` - Build the specified variant
652 (or variants) of Hotspot. Valid variants are: `server`, `client`,
653 `minimal`, `core`, `zero`, `custom`. Note that not all
654 variants are possible to combine in a single build.
655 * `--with-jvm-features=<feature>[,<feature>...]` - Use the specified JVM
656 features when building Hotspot. The list of features will be enabled on top
657 of the default list. For the `custom` JVM variant, this default list is
658 empty. A complete list of available JVM features can be found using `bash
659 configure --help`.
660 * `--with-target-bits=<bits>` - Create a target binary suitable for running
661 on a `<bits>` platform. Use this to create 32-bit output on a 64-bit build
662 platform, instead of doing a full cross-compile. (This is known as a
663 *reduced* build.)
664
665 #### Configure Arguments for Native Compilation
666
667 * `--with-devkit=<path>` - Use this devkit for compilers, tools and resources
668 * `--with-sysroot=<path>` - Use this directory as sysroot
669 * `--with-extra-path=<path>[;<path>]` - Prepend these directories to the
670 default path when searching for all kinds of binaries
671 * `--with-toolchain-path=<path>[;<path>]` - Prepend these directories when
672 searching for toolchain binaries (compilers etc)
673 * `--with-extra-cflags=<flags>` - Append these flags when compiling JDK C
674 files
675 * `--with-extra-cxxflags=<flags>` - Append these flags when compiling JDK C++
676 files
677 * `--with-extra-ldflags=<flags>` - Append these flags when linking JDK
678 libraries
679
680 #### Configure Arguments for External Dependencies
681
682 * `--with-boot-jdk=<path>` - Set the path to the [Boot JDK](
683 #boot-jdk-requirements)
684 * `--with-freetype=<path>` - Set the path to [FreeType](#freetype)
685 * `--with-cups=<path>` - Set the path to [CUPS](#cups)
686 * `--with-x=<path>` - Set the path to [X11](#x11)
687 * `--with-alsa=<path>` - Set the path to [ALSA](#alsa)
688 * `--with-libffi=<path>` - Set the path to [libffi](#libffi)
689 * `--with-jtreg=<path>` - Set the path to JTReg. See [Running Tests](
690 #running-tests)
691
692 Certain third-party libraries used by the JDK (libjpeg, giflib, libpng, lcms
693 and zlib) are included in the JDK repository. The default behavior of the
694 JDK build is to use this version of these libraries, but they might be
695 replaced by an external version. To do so, specify `system` as the `<source>`
696 option in these arguments. (The default is `bundled`).
697
698 * `--with-libjpeg=<source>` - Use the specified source for libjpeg
699 * `--with-giflib=<source>` - Use the specified source for giflib
700 * `--with-libpng=<source>` - Use the specified source for libpng
701 * `--with-lcms=<source>` - Use the specified source for lcms
702 * `--with-zlib=<source>` - Use the specified source for zlib
703
704 On Linux, it is possible to select either static or dynamic linking of the C++
705 runtime. The default is static linking, with dynamic linking as fallback if the
706 static library is not found.
707
708 * `--with-stdc++lib=<method>` - Use the specified method (`static`, `dynamic`
709 or `default`) for linking the C++ runtime.
710
711 ### Configure Control Variables
712
713 It is possible to control certain aspects of `configure` by overriding the
714 value of `configure` variables, either on the command line or in the
715 environment.
716
717 Normally, this is **not recommended**. If used improperly, it can lead to a
718 broken configuration. Unless you're well versed in the build system, this is
719 hard to use properly. Therefore, `configure` will print a warning if this is
720 detected.
721
722 However, there are a few `configure` variables, known as *control variables*
723 that are supposed to be overriden on the command line. These are variables that
724 describe the location of tools needed by the build, like `MAKE` or `GREP`. If
725 any such variable is specified, `configure` will use that value instead of
726 trying to autodetect the tool. For instance, `bash configure
727 MAKE=/opt/gnumake4.0/bin/make`.
728
729 If a configure argument exists, use that instead, e.g. use `--with-jtreg`
730 instead of setting `JTREGEXE`.
731
732 Also note that, despite what autoconf claims, setting `CFLAGS` will not
733 accomplish anything. Instead use `--with-extra-cflags` (and similar for
734 `cxxflags` and `ldflags`).
735
736 ## Running Make
737
738 When you have a proper configuration, all you need to do to build the JDK is to
739 run `make`. (But see the warning at [GNU Make](#gnu-make) about running the
740 correct version of make.)
741
742 When running `make` without any arguments, the default target is used, which is
743 the same as running `make default` or `make jdk`. This will build a minimal (or
744 roughly minimal) set of compiled output (known as an "exploded image") needed
745 for a developer to actually execute the newly built JDK. The idea is that in an
746 incremental development fashion, when doing a normal make, you should only
747 spend time recompiling what's changed (making it purely incremental) and only
748 do the work that's needed to actually run and test your code.
749
750 The output of the exploded image resides in `$BUILD/jdk`. You can test the
751 newly built JDK like this: `$BUILD/jdk/bin/java -version`.
752
753 ### Common Make Targets
754
755 Apart from the default target, here are some common make targets:
756
757 * `hotspot` - Build all of hotspot (but only hotspot)
758 * `hotspot-<variant>` - Build just the specified jvm variant
759 * `images` or `product-images` - Build the JDK image
760 * `docs` or `docs-image` - Build the documentation image
761 * `test-image` - Build the test image
762 * `all` or `all-images` - Build all images (product, docs and test)
763 * `bootcycle-images` - Build images twice, second time with newly built JDK
764 (good for testing)
765 * `clean` - Remove all files generated by make, but not those generated by
766 configure
767 * `dist-clean` - Remove all files, including configuration
768
769 Run `make help` to get an up-to-date list of important make targets and make
770 control variables.
771
772 It is possible to build just a single module, a single phase, or a single phase
773 of a single module, by creating make targets according to these followin
774 patterns. A phase can be either of `gensrc`, `gendata`, `copy`, `java`,
775 `launchers`, `libs` or `rmic`. See [Using Fine-Grained Make Targets](
776 #using-fine-grained-make-targets) for more details about this functionality.
777
778 * `<phase>` - Build the specified phase and everything it depends on
779 * `<module>` - Build the specified module and everything it depends on
780 * `<module>-<phase>` - Compile the specified phase for the specified module
781 and everything it depends on
782
783 Similarly, it is possible to clean just a part of the build by creating make
784 targets according to these patterns:
785
786 * `clean-<outputdir>` - Remove the subdir in the output dir with the name
787 * `clean-<phase>` - Remove all build results related to a certain build
788 phase
789 * `clean-<module>` - Remove all build results related to a certain module
790 * `clean-<module>-<phase>` - Remove all build results related to a certain
791 module and phase
792
793 ### Make Control Variables
794
795 It is possible to control `make` behavior by overriding the value of `make`
796 variables, either on the command line or in the environment.
797
798 Normally, this is **not recommended**. If used improperly, it can lead to a
799 broken build. Unless you're well versed in the build system, this is hard to
800 use properly. Therefore, `make` will print a warning if this is detected.
801
802 However, there are a few `make` variables, known as *control variables* that
803 are supposed to be overriden on the command line. These make up the "make time"
804 configuration, as opposed to the "configure time" configuration.
805
806 #### General Make Control Variables
807
808 * `JOBS` - Specify the number of jobs to build with. See [Build
809 Performance](#build-performance).
810 * `LOG` - Specify the logging level and functionality. See [Checking the
811 Build Log File](#checking-the-build-log-file)
812 * `CONF` and `CONF_NAME` - Selecting the configuration(s) to use. See [Using
813 Multiple Configurations](#using-multiple-configurations)
814
815 #### Test Make Control Variables
816
817 These make control variables only make sense when running tests. Please see
818 [Testing the JDK](testing.html) for details.
819
820 * `TEST`
821 * `TEST_JOBS`
822 * `JTREG`
823 * `GTEST`
824
825 #### Advanced Make Control Variables
826
827 These advanced make control variables can be potentially unsafe. See [Hints and
828 Suggestions for Advanced Users](#hints-and-suggestions-for-advanced-users) and
829 [Understanding the Build System](#understanding-the-build-system) for details.
830
831 * `SPEC`
832 * `CONF_CHECK`
833 * `COMPARE_BUILD`
834 * `JDK_FILTER`
835
836 ## Running Tests
837
838 Most of the JDK tests are using the [JTReg](http://openjdk.java.net/jtreg)
839 test framework. Make sure that your configuration knows where to find your
840 installation of JTReg. If this is not picked up automatically, use the
841 `--with-jtreg=<path to jtreg home>` option to point to the JTReg framework.
842 Note that this option should point to the JTReg home, i.e. the top directory,
843 containing `lib/jtreg.jar` etc.
844
845 The [Adoption Group](https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/Adoption) provides
846 recent builds of jtreg [here](
847 https://adopt-openjdk.ci.cloudbees.com/job/jtreg/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact).
848 Download the latest `.tar.gz` file, unpack it, and point `--with-jtreg` to the
849 `jtreg` directory that you just unpacked.
850
851 To execute the most basic tests (tier 1), use:
852 ```
853 make run-test-tier1
854 ```
855
856 For more details on how to run tests, please see the [Testing
857 the JDK](testing.html) document.
858
859 ## Cross-compiling
860
861 Cross-compiling means using one platform (the *build* platform) to generate
862 output that can ran on another platform (the *target* platform).
863
864 The typical reason for cross-compiling is that the build is performed on a more
865 powerful desktop computer, but the resulting binaries will be able to run on a
866 different, typically low-performing system. Most of the complications that
867 arise when building for embedded is due to this separation of *build* and
868 *target* systems.
869
870 This requires a more complex setup and build procedure. This section assumes
871 you are familiar with cross-compiling in general, and will only deal with the
872 particularities of cross-compiling the JDK. If you are new to cross-compiling,
873 please see the [external links at Wikipedia](
874 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_compiler#External_links) for a good start
875 on reading materials.
876
877 Cross-compiling the JDK requires you to be able to build both for the build
878 platform and for the target platform. The reason for the former is that we need
879 to build and execute tools during the build process, both native tools and Java
880 tools.
881
882 If all you want to do is to compile a 32-bit version, for the same OS, on a
883 64-bit machine, consider using `--with-target-bits=32` instead of doing a
884 full-blown cross-compilation. (While this surely is possible, it's a lot more
885 work and will take much longer to build.)
886
887 ### Cross compiling the easy way with OpenJDK devkits
888
889 The OpenJDK build system provides out-of-the box support for creating and using
890 so called devkits. A `devkit` is basically a collection of a cross-compiling
891 toolchain and a sysroot environment which can easily be used together with the
892 `--with-devkit` configure option to cross compile the OpenJDK. On Linux/x86_64,
893 the following command:
894 ```
895 bash configure --with-devkit=<devkit-path> --openjdk-target=ppc64-linux-gnu && make
896 ```
897
898 will configure and build OpenJDK for Linux/ppc64 assuming that `<devkit-path>`
899 points to a Linux/x86_64 to Linux/ppc64 devkit.
900
901 Devkits can be created from the `make/devkit` directory by executing:
902 ```
903 make [ TARGETS="<TARGET_TRIPLET>+" ] [ BASE_OS=<OS> ] [ BASE_OS_VERSION=<VER> ]
904 ```
905
906 where `TARGETS` contains one or more `TARGET_TRIPLET`s of the form
907 described in [section 3.4 of the GNU
908 Autobook](https://sourceware.org/autobook/autobook/autobook_17.html). If
909 no targets are given, a native toolchain for the current platform will
910 be created. Currently, at least the following targets are known to
911 work:
912
913 Supported devkit targets
914 ------------------------
915 x86_64-linux-gnu
916 aarch64-linux-gnu
917 arm-linux-gnueabihf
918 ppc64-linux-gnu
919 ppc64le-linux-gnu
920 s390x-linux-gnu
921
922 `BASE_OS` must be one of "OEL6" for Oracle Enterprise Linux 6 or
923 "Fedora" (if not specified "OEL6" will be the default). If the base OS
924 is "Fedora" the corresponding Fedora release can be specified with the
925 help of the `BASE_OS_VERSION` option (with "27" as default version).
926 If the build is successful, the new devkits can be found in the
927 `build/devkit/result` subdirectory:
928 ```
929 cd make/devkit
930 make TARGETS="ppc64le-linux-gnu aarch64-linux-gnu" BASE_OS=Fedora BASE_OS_VERSION=21
931 ls -1 ../../build/devkit/result/
932 x86_64-linux-gnu-to-aarch64-linux-gnu
933 x86_64-linux-gnu-to-ppc64le-linux-gnu
934 ```
935
936 Notice that devkits are not only useful for targeting different build
937 platforms. Because they contain the full build dependencies for a
938 system (i.e. compiler and root file system), they can easily be used
939 to build well-known, reliable and reproducible build environments. You
940 can for example create and use a devkit with GCC 7.3 and a Fedora 12
941 sysroot environment (with glibc 2.11) on Ubuntu 14.04 (which doesn't
942 have GCC 7.3 by default) to produce OpenJDK binaries which will run on
943 all Linux systems with runtime libraries newer than the ones from
944 Fedora 12 (e.g. Ubuntu 16.04, SLES 11 or RHEL 6).
945
946 ### Boot JDK and Build JDK
947
948 When cross-compiling, make sure you use a boot JDK that runs on the *build*
949 system, and not on the *target* system.
950
951 To be able to build, we need a "Build JDK", which is a JDK built from the
952 current sources (that is, the same as the end result of the entire build
953 process), but able to run on the *build* system, and not the *target* system.
954 (In contrast, the Boot JDK should be from an older release, e.g. JDK 8 when
955 building JDK 9.)
956
957 The build process will create a minimal Build JDK for you, as part of building.
958 To speed up the build, you can use `--with-build-jdk` to `configure` to point
959 to a pre-built Build JDK. Please note that the build result is unpredictable,
960 and can possibly break in subtle ways, if the Build JDK does not **exactly**
961 match the current sources.
962
963 ### Specifying the Target Platform
964
965 You *must* specify the target platform when cross-compiling. Doing so will also
966 automatically turn the build into a cross-compiling mode. The simplest way to
967 do this is to use the `--openjdk-target` argument, e.g.
968 `--openjdk-target=arm-linux-gnueabihf`. or `--openjdk-target=aarch64-oe-linux`.
969 This will automatically set the `--build`, `--host` and `--target` options for
970 autoconf, which can otherwise be confusing. (In autoconf terminology, the
971 "target" is known as "host", and "target" is used for building a Canadian
972 cross-compiler.)
973
974 ### Toolchain Considerations
975
976 You will need two copies of your toolchain, one which generates output that can
977 run on the target system (the normal, or *target*, toolchain), and one that
978 generates output that can run on the build system (the *build* toolchain). Note
979 that cross-compiling is only supported for gcc at the time being. The gcc
980 standard is to prefix cross-compiling toolchains with the target denominator.
981 If you follow this standard, `configure` is likely to pick up the toolchain
982 correctly.
983
984 The *build* toolchain will be autodetected just the same way the normal
985 *build*/*target* toolchain will be autodetected when not cross-compiling. If
986 this is not what you want, or if the autodetection fails, you can specify a
987 devkit containing the *build* toolchain using `--with-build-devkit` to
988 `configure`, or by giving `BUILD_CC` and `BUILD_CXX` arguments.
989
990 It is often helpful to locate the cross-compilation tools, headers and
991 libraries in a separate directory, outside the normal path, and point out that
992 directory to `configure`. Do this by setting the sysroot (`--with-sysroot`) and
993 appending the directory when searching for cross-compilations tools
994 (`--with-toolchain-path`). As a compact form, you can also use `--with-devkit`
995 to point to a single directory, if it is correctly setup. (See `basics.m4` for
996 details.)
997
998 If you are unsure what toolchain and versions to use, these have been proved
999 working at the time of writing:
1000
1001 * [aarch64](
1002 https://releases.linaro.org/archive/13.11/components/toolchain/binaries/gcc-linaro-aarch64-linux-gnu-4.8-2013.11_linux.tar.xz)
1003 * [arm 32-bit hardware floating point](
1004 https://launchpad.net/linaro-toolchain-unsupported/trunk/2012.09/+download/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-raspbian-2012.09-20120921_linux.tar.bz2)
1005
1006 ### Native Libraries
1007
1008 You will need copies of external native libraries for the *target* system,
1009 present on the *build* machine while building.
1010
1011 Take care not to replace the *build* system's version of these libraries by
1012 mistake, since that can render the *build* machine unusable.
1013
1014 Make sure that the libraries you point to (ALSA, X11, etc) are for the
1015 *target*, not the *build*, platform.
1016
1017 #### ALSA
1018
1019 You will need alsa libraries suitable for your *target* system. For most cases,
1020 using Debian's pre-built libraries work fine.
1021
1022 Note that alsa is needed even if you only want to build a headless JDK.
1023
1024 * Go to [Debian Package Search](https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages) and
1025 search for the `libasound2` and `libasound2-dev` packages for your *target*
1026 system. Download them to /tmp.
1027
1028 * Install the libraries into the cross-compilation toolchain. For instance:
1029 ```
1030 cd /tools/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-raspbian-2012.09-20120921_linux/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc
1031 dpkg-deb -x /tmp/libasound2_1.0.25-4_armhf.deb .
1032 dpkg-deb -x /tmp/libasound2-dev_1.0.25-4_armhf.deb .
1033 ```
1034
1035 * If alsa is not properly detected by `configure`, you can point it out by
1036 `--with-alsa`.
1037
1038 #### X11
1039
1040 You will need X11 libraries suitable for your *target* system. For most cases,
1041 using Debian's pre-built libraries work fine.
1042
1043 Note that X11 is needed even if you only want to build a headless JDK.
1044
1045 * Go to [Debian Package Search](https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages),
1046 search for the following packages for your *target* system, and download them
1047 to /tmp/target-x11:
1048 * libxi
1049 * libxi-dev
1050 * x11proto-core-dev
1051 * x11proto-input-dev
1052 * x11proto-kb-dev
1053 * x11proto-render-dev
1054 * x11proto-xext-dev
1055 * libice-dev
1056 * libxrender
1057 * libxrender-dev
1058 * libsm-dev
1059 * libxt-dev
1060 * libx11
1061 * libx11-dev
1062 * libxtst
1063 * libxtst-dev
1064 * libxext
1065 * libxext-dev
1066
1067 * Install the libraries into the cross-compilation toolchain. For instance:
1068 ```
1069 cd /tools/gcc-linaro-arm-linux-gnueabihf-raspbian-2012.09-20120921_linux/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc/usr
1070 mkdir X11R6
1071 cd X11R6
1072 for deb in /tmp/target-x11/*.deb ; do dpkg-deb -x $deb . ; done
1073 mv usr/* .
1074 cd lib
1075 cp arm-linux-gnueabihf/* .
1076 ```
1077
1078 You can ignore the following messages. These libraries are not needed to
1079 successfully complete a full JDK build.
1080 ```
1081 cp: cannot stat `arm-linux-gnueabihf/libICE.so': No such file or directory
1082 cp: cannot stat `arm-linux-gnueabihf/libSM.so': No such file or directory
1083 cp: cannot stat `arm-linux-gnueabihf/libXt.so': No such file or directory
1084 ```
1085
1086 * If the X11 libraries are not properly detected by `configure`, you can
1087 point them out by `--with-x`.
1088
1089 ### Creating And Using Sysroots With qemu-deboostrap
1090
1091 Fortunately, you can create sysroots for foreign architectures with tools
1092 provided by your OS. On Debian/Ubuntu systems, one could use `qemu-deboostrap` to
1093 create the *target* system chroot, which would have the native libraries and headers
1094 specific to that *target* system. After that, we can use the cross-compiler on the *build*
1095 system, pointing into chroot to get the build dependencies right. This allows building
1096 for foreign architectures with native compilation speed.
1097
1098 For example, cross-compiling to AArch64 from x86_64 could be done like this:
1099
1100 * Install cross-compiler on the *build* system:
1101 ```
1102 apt install g++-aarch64-linux-gnu gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu
1103 ```
1104
1105 * Create chroot on the *build* system, configuring it for *target* system:
1106 ```
1107 sudo qemu-debootstrap --arch=arm64 --verbose \
1108 --include=fakeroot,build-essential,libx11-dev,libxext-dev,libxrender-dev,libxtst-dev,libxt-dev,libcups2-dev,libfontconfig1-dev,libasound2-dev,libfreetype6-dev,libpng12-dev \
1109 --resolve-deps jessie /chroots/arm64 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/
1110 ```
1111
1112 * Configure and build with newly created chroot as sysroot/toolchain-path:
1113 ```
1114 CC=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc CXX=aarch64-linux-gnu-g++ sh ./configure --openjdk-target=aarch64-linux-gnu --with-sysroot=/chroots/arm64/ --with-toolchain-path=/chroots/arm64/
1115 make images
1116 ls build/linux-aarch64-normal-server-release/
1117 ```
1118
1119 The build does not create new files in that chroot, so it can be reused for multiple builds
1120 without additional cleanup.
1121
1122 Architectures that are known to successfully cross-compile like this are:
1123
1124 Target `CC` `CXX` `--arch=...` `--openjdk-target=...`
1125 ------------ ------------------------- --------------------------- ------------ ----------------------
1126 x86 default default i386 i386-linux-gnu
1127 armhf gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf armhf arm-linux-gnueabihf
1128 aarch64 gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu g++-aarch64-linux-gnu arm64 aarch64-linux-gnu
1129 ppc64el gcc-powerpc64le-linux-gnu g++-powerpc64le-linux-gnu ppc64el powerpc64le-linux-gnu
1130 s390x gcc-s390x-linux-gnu g++-s390x-linux-gnu s390x s390x-linux-gnu
1131
1132 Additional architectures might be supported by Debian/Ubuntu Ports.
1133
1134 ### Building for ARM/aarch64
1135
1136 A common cross-compilation target is the ARM CPU. When building for ARM, it is
1137 useful to set the ABI profile. A number of pre-defined ABI profiles are
1138 available using `--with-abi-profile`: arm-vfp-sflt, arm-vfp-hflt, arm-sflt,
1139 armv5-vfp-sflt, armv6-vfp-hflt. Note that soft-float ABIs are no longer
1140 properly supported by the JDK.
1141
1142 ### Verifying the Build
1143
1144 The build will end up in a directory named like
1145 `build/linux-arm-normal-server-release`.
1146
1147 Inside this build output directory, the `images/jdk` will contain the newly
1148 built JDK, for your *target* system.
1149
1150 Copy these folders to your *target* system. Then you can run e.g.
1151 `images/jdk/bin/java -version`.
1152
1153 ## Build Performance
1154
1155 Building the JDK requires a lot of horsepower. Some of the build tools can be
1156 adjusted to utilize more or less of resources such as parallel threads and
1157 memory. The `configure` script analyzes your system and selects reasonable
1158 values for such options based on your hardware. If you encounter resource
1159 problems, such as out of memory conditions, you can modify the detected values
1160 with:
1161
1162 * `--with-num-cores` -- number of cores in the build system, e.g.
1163 `--with-num-cores=8`.
1164
1165 * `--with-memory-size` -- memory (in MB) available in the build system, e.g.
1166 `--with-memory-size=1024`
1167
1168 You can also specify directly the number of build jobs to use with
1169 `--with-jobs=N` to `configure`, or `JOBS=N` to `make`. Do not use the `-j` flag
1170 to `make`. In most cases it will be ignored by the makefiles, but it can cause
1171 problems for some make targets.
1172
1173 It might also be necessary to specify the JVM arguments passed to the Boot JDK,
1174 using e.g. `--with-boot-jdk-jvmargs="-Xmx8G"`. Doing so will override the
1175 default JVM arguments passed to the Boot JDK.
1176
1177 At the end of a successful execution of `configure`, you will get a performance
1178 summary, indicating how well the build will perform. Here you will also get
1179 performance hints. If you want to build fast, pay attention to those!
1180
1181 If you want to tweak build performance, run with `make LOG=info` to get a build
1182 time summary at the end of the build process.
1183
1184 ### Disk Speed
1185
1186 If you are using network shares, e.g. via NFS, for your source code, make sure
1187 the build directory is situated on local disk (e.g. by `ln -s
1188 /localdisk/jdk-build $JDK-SHARE/build`). The performance penalty is extremely
1189 high for building on a network share; close to unusable.
1190
1191 Also, make sure that your build tools (including Boot JDK and toolchain) is
1192 located on a local disk and not a network share.
1193
1194 As has been stressed elsewhere, do use SSD for source code and build directory,
1195 as well as (if possible) the build tools.
1196
1197 ### Virus Checking
1198
1199 The use of virus checking software, especially on Windows, can *significantly*
1200 slow down building of the JDK. If possible, turn off such software, or exclude
1201 the directory containing the JDK source code from on-the-fly checking.
1202
1203 ### Ccache
1204
1205 The JDK build supports building with ccache when using gcc or clang. Using
1206 ccache can radically speed up compilation of native code if you often rebuild
1207 the same sources. Your milage may vary however, so we recommend evaluating it
1208 for yourself. To enable it, make sure it's on the path and configure with
1209 `--enable-ccache`.
1210
1211 ### Precompiled Headers
1212
1213 By default, the Hotspot build uses preccompiled headers (PCH) on the toolchains
1214 were it is properly supported (clang, gcc, and Visual Studio). Normally, this
1215 speeds up the build process, but in some circumstances, it can actually slow
1216 things down.
1217
1218 You can experiment by disabling precompiled headers using
1219 `--disable-precompiled-headers`.
1220
1221 ### Icecc / icecream
1222
1223 [icecc/icecream](http://github.com/icecc/icecream) is a simple way to setup a
1224 distributed compiler network. If you have multiple machines available for
1225 building the JDK, you can drastically cut individual build times by utilizing
1226 it.
1227
1228 To use, setup an icecc network, and install icecc on the build machine. Then
1229 run `configure` using `--enable-icecc`.
1230
1231 ### Using sjavac
1232
1233 To speed up Java compilation, especially incremental compilations, you can try
1234 the experimental sjavac compiler by using `--enable-sjavac`.
1235
1236 ### Building the Right Target
1237
1238 Selecting the proper target to build can have dramatic impact on build time.
1239 For normal usage, `jdk` or the default target is just fine. You only need to
1240 build `images` for shipping, or if your tests require it.
1241
1242 See also [Using Fine-Grained Make Targets](#using-fine-grained-make-targets) on
1243 how to build an even smaller subset of the product.
1244
1245 ## Troubleshooting
1246
1247 If your build fails, it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint the problem or
1248 find a proper solution.
1249
1250 ### Locating the Source of the Error
1251
1252 When a build fails, it can be hard to pinpoint the actual cause of the error.
1253 In a typical build process, different parts of the product build in parallel,
1254 with the output interlaced.
1255
1256 #### Build Failure Summary
1257
1258 To help you, the build system will print a failure summary at the end. It looks
1259 like this:
1260
1261 ```
1262 ERROR: Build failed for target 'hotspot' in configuration 'linux-x64' (exit code 2)
1263
1264 === Output from failing command(s) repeated here ===
1265 * For target hotspot_variant-server_libjvm_objs_psMemoryPool.o:
1266 /localhome/hg/jdk9-sandbox/hotspot/src/share/vm/services/psMemoryPool.cpp:1:1: error: 'failhere' does not name a type
1267 ... (rest of output omitted)
1268
1269 * All command lines available in /localhome/hg/jdk9-sandbox/build/linux-x64/make-support/failure-logs.
1270 === End of repeated output ===
1271
1272 === Make failed targets repeated here ===
1273 lib/CompileJvm.gmk:207: recipe for target '/localhome/hg/jdk9-sandbox/build/linux-x64/hotspot/variant-server/libjvm/objs/psMemoryPool.o' failed
1274 make/Main.gmk:263: recipe for target 'hotspot-server-libs' failed
1275 === End of repeated output ===
1276
1277 Hint: Try searching the build log for the name of the first failed target.
1278 Hint: If caused by a warning, try configure --disable-warnings-as-errors.
1279 ```
1280
1281 Let's break it down! First, the selected configuration, and the top-level
1282 target you entered on the command line that caused the failure is printed.
1283
1284 Then, between the `Output from failing command(s) repeated here` and `End of
1285 repeated output` the first lines of output (stdout and stderr) from the actual
1286 failing command is repeated. In most cases, this is the error message that
1287 caused the build to fail. If multiple commands were failing (this can happen in
1288 a parallel build), output from all failed commands will be printed here.
1289
1290 The path to the `failure-logs` directory is printed. In this file you will find
1291 a `<target>.log` file that contains the output from this command in its
1292 entirety, and also a `<target>.cmd`, which contain the complete command line
1293 used for running this command. You can re-run the failing command by executing
1294 `. <path to failure-logs>/<target>.cmd` in your shell.
1295
1296 Another way to trace the failure is to follow the chain of make targets, from
1297 top-level targets to individual file targets. Between `Make failed targets
1298 repeated here` and `End of repeated output` the output from make showing this
1299 chain is repeated. The first failed recipe will typically contain the full path
1300 to the file in question that failed to compile. Following lines will show a
1301 trace of make targets why we ended up trying to compile that file.
1302
1303 Finally, some hints are given on how to locate the error in the complete log.
1304 In this example, we would try searching the log file for "`psMemoryPool.o`".
1305 Another way to quickly locate make errors in the log is to search for "`]
1306 Error`" or "`***`".
1307
1308 Note that the build failure summary will only help you if the issue was a
1309 compilation failure or similar. If the problem is more esoteric, or is due to
1310 errors in the build machinery, you will likely get empty output logs, and `No
1311 indication of failed target found` instead of the make target chain.
1312
1313 #### Checking the Build Log File
1314
1315 The output (stdout and stderr) from the latest build is always stored in
1316 `$BUILD/build.log`. The previous build log is stored as `build.log.old`. This
1317 means that it is not necessary to redirect the build output yourself if you
1318 want to process it.
1319
1320 You can increase the verbosity of the log file, by the `LOG` control variable
1321 to `make`. If you want to see the command lines used in compilations, use
1322 `LOG=cmdlines`. To increase the general verbosity, use `LOG=info`, `LOG=debug`
1323 or `LOG=trace`. Both of these can be combined with `cmdlines`, e.g.
1324 `LOG=info,cmdlines`. The `debug` log level will show most shell commands
1325 executed by make, and `trace` will show all. Beware that both these log levels
1326 will produce a massive build log!
1327
1328 ### Fixing Unexpected Build Failures
1329
1330 Most of the time, the build will fail due to incorrect changes in the source
1331 code.
1332
1333 Sometimes the build can fail with no apparent changes that have caused the
1334 failure. If this is the first time you are building the JDK on this particular
1335 computer, and the build fails, the problem is likely with your build
1336 environment. But even if you have previously built the JDK with success, and it
1337 now fails, your build environment might have changed (perhaps due to OS
1338 upgrades or similar). But most likely, such failures are due to problems with
1339 the incremental rebuild.
1340
1341 #### Problems with the Build Environment
1342
1343 Make sure your configuration is correct. Re-run `configure`, and look for any
1344 warnings. Warnings that appear in the middle of the `configure` output is also
1345 repeated at the end, after the summary. The entire log is stored in
1346 `$BUILD/configure.log`.
1347
1348 Verify that the summary at the end looks correct. Are you indeed using the Boot
1349 JDK and native toolchain that you expect?
1350
1351 By default, the JDK has a strict approach where warnings from the compiler is
1352 considered errors which fail the build. For very new or very old compiler
1353 versions, this can trigger new classes of warnings, which thus fails the build.
1354 Run `configure` with `--disable-warnings-as-errors` to turn of this behavior.
1355 (The warnings will still show, but not make the build fail.)
1356
1357 #### Problems with Incremental Rebuilds
1358
1359 Incremental rebuilds mean that when you modify part of the product, only the
1360 affected parts get rebuilt. While this works great in most cases, and
1361 significantly speed up the development process, from time to time complex
1362 interdependencies will result in an incorrect build result. This is the most
1363 common cause for unexpected build problems.
1364
1365 Here are a suggested list of things to try if you are having unexpected build
1366 problems. Each step requires more time than the one before, so try them in
1367 order. Most issues will be solved at step 1 or 2.
1368
1369 1. Make sure your repository is up-to-date
1370
1371 Run `hg pull -u` to make sure you have the latest changes.
1372
1373 2. Clean build results
1374
1375 The simplest way to fix incremental rebuild issues is to run `make clean`.
1376 This will remove all build results, but not the configuration or any build
1377 system support artifacts. In most cases, this will solve build errors
1378 resulting from incremental build mismatches.
1379
1380 3. Completely clean the build directory.
1381
1382 If this does not work, the next step is to run `make dist-clean`, or
1383 removing the build output directory (`$BUILD`). This will clean all
1384 generated output, including your configuration. You will need to re-run
1385 `configure` after this step. A good idea is to run `make
1386 print-configuration` before running `make dist-clean`, as this will print
1387 your current `configure` command line. Here's a way to do this:
1388
1389 ```
1390 make print-configuration > current-configuration
1391 make dist-clean
1392 bash configure $(cat current-configuration)
1393 make
1394 ```
1395
1396 4. Re-clone the Mercurial repository
1397
1398 Sometimes the Mercurial repository gets in a state that causes the product
1399 to be un-buildable. In such a case, the simplest solution is often the
1400 "sledgehammer approach": delete the entire repository, and re-clone it.
1401 If you have local changes, save them first to a different location using
1402 `hg export`.
1403
1404 ### Specific Build Issues
1405
1406 #### Clock Skew
1407
1408 If you get an error message like this:
1409 ```
1410 File 'xxx' has modification time in the future.
1411 Clock skew detected. Your build may be incomplete.
1412 ```
1413 then the clock on your build machine is out of sync with the timestamps on the
1414 source files. Other errors, apparently unrelated but in fact caused by the
1415 clock skew, can occur along with the clock skew warnings. These secondary
1416 errors may tend to obscure the fact that the true root cause of the problem is
1417 an out-of-sync clock.
1418
1419 If you see these warnings, reset the clock on the build machine, run `make
1420 clean` and restart the build.
1421
1422 #### Out of Memory Errors
1423
1424 On Solaris, you might get an error message like this:
1425 ```
1426 Trouble writing out table to disk
1427 ```
1428 To solve this, increase the amount of swap space on your build machine.
1429
1430 On Windows, you might get error messages like this:
1431 ```
1432 fatal error - couldn't allocate heap
1433 cannot create ... Permission denied
1434 spawn failed
1435 ```
1436 This can be a sign of a Cygwin problem. See the information about solving
1437 problems in the [Cygwin](#cygwin) section. Rebooting the computer might help
1438 temporarily.
1439
1440 ### Getting Help
1441
1442 If none of the suggestions in this document helps you, or if you find what you
1443 believe is a bug in the build system, please contact the Build Group by sending
1444 a mail to [build-dev@openjdk.java.net](mailto:build-dev@openjdk.java.net).
1445 Please include the relevant parts of the configure and/or build log.
1446
1447 If you need general help or advice about developing for the JDK, you can also
1448 contact the Adoption Group. See the section on [Contributing to OpenJDK](
1449 #contributing-to-openjdk) for more information.
1450
1451 ## Hints and Suggestions for Advanced Users
1452
1453 ### Setting Up a Repository for Pushing Changes (defpath)
1454
1455 To help you prepare a proper push path for a Mercurial repository, there exists
1456 a useful tool known as [defpath](
1457 http://openjdk.java.net/projects/code-tools/defpath). It will help you setup a
1458 proper push path for pushing changes to the JDK.
1459
1460 Install the extension by cloning
1461 `http://hg.openjdk.java.net/code-tools/defpath` and updating your `.hgrc` file.
1462 Here's one way to do this:
1463
1464 ```
1465 cd ~
1466 mkdir hg-ext
1467 cd hg-ext
1468 hg clone http://hg.openjdk.java.net/code-tools/defpath
1469 cat << EOT >> ~/.hgrc
1470 [extensions]
1471 defpath=~/hg-ext/defpath/defpath.py
1472 EOT
1473 ```
1474
1475 You can now setup a proper push path using:
1476 ```
1477 hg defpath -d -u <your OpenJDK username>
1478 ```
1479
1480 ### Bash Completion
1481
1482 The `configure` and `make` commands tries to play nice with bash command-line
1483 completion (using `<tab>` or `<tab><tab>`). To use this functionality, make
1484 sure you enable completion in your `~/.bashrc` (see instructions for bash in
1485 your operating system).
1486
1487 Make completion will work out of the box, and will complete valid make targets.
1488 For instance, typing `make jdk-i<tab>` will complete to `make jdk-image`.
1489
1490 The `configure` script can get completion for options, but for this to work you
1491 need to help `bash` on the way. The standard way of running the script, `bash
1492 configure`, will not be understood by bash completion. You need `configure` to
1493 be the command to run. One way to achieve this is to add a simple helper script
1494 to your path:
1495
1496 ```
1497 cat << EOT > /tmp/configure
1498 #!/bin/bash
1499 if [ \$(pwd) = \$(cd \$(dirname \$0); pwd) ] ; then
1500 echo >&2 "Abort: Trying to call configure helper recursively"
1501 exit 1
1502 fi
1503
1504 bash \$PWD/configure "\$@"
1505 EOT
1506 chmod +x /tmp/configure
1507 sudo mv /tmp/configure /usr/local/bin
1508 ```
1509
1510 Now `configure --en<tab>-dt<tab>` will result in `configure --enable-dtrace`.
1511
1512 ### Using Multiple Configurations
1513
1514 You can have multiple configurations for a single source repository. When you
1515 create a new configuration, run `configure --with-conf-name=<name>` to create a
1516 configuration with the name `<name>`. Alternatively, you can create a directory
1517 under `build` and run `configure` from there, e.g. `mkdir build/<name> && cd
1518 build/<name> && bash ../../configure`.
1519
1520 Then you can build that configuration using `make CONF_NAME=<name>` or `make
1521 CONF=<pattern>`, where `<pattern>` is a substring matching one or several
1522 configurations, e.g. `CONF=debug`. The special empty pattern (`CONF=`) will
1523 match *all* available configuration, so `make CONF= hotspot` will build the
1524 `hotspot` target for all configurations. Alternatively, you can execute `make`
1525 in the configuration directory, e.g. `cd build/<name> && make`.
1526
1527 ### Handling Reconfigurations
1528
1529 If you update the repository and part of the configure script has changed, the
1530 build system will force you to re-run `configure`.
1531
1532 Most of the time, you will be fine by running `configure` again with the same
1533 arguments as the last time, which can easily be performed by `make
1534 reconfigure`. To simplify this, you can use the `CONF_CHECK` make control
1535 variable, either as `make CONF_CHECK=auto`, or by setting an environment
1536 variable. For instance, if you add `export CONF_CHECK=auto` to your `.bashrc`
1537 file, `make` will always run `reconfigure` automatically whenever the configure
1538 script has changed.
1539
1540 You can also use `CONF_CHECK=ignore` to skip the check for a needed configure
1541 update. This might speed up the build, but comes at the risk of an incorrect
1542 build result. This is only recommended if you know what you're doing.
1543
1544 From time to time, you will also need to modify the command line to `configure`
1545 due to changes. Use `make print-configure` to show the command line used for
1546 your current configuration.
1547
1548 ### Using Fine-Grained Make Targets
1549
1550 The default behavior for make is to create consistent and correct output, at
1551 the expense of build speed, if necessary.
1552
1553 If you are prepared to take some risk of an incorrect build, and know enough of
1554 the system to understand how things build and interact, you can speed up the
1555 build process considerably by instructing make to only build a portion of the
1556 product.
1557
1558 #### Building Individual Modules
1559
1560 The safe way to use fine-grained make targets is to use the module specific
1561 make targets. All source code in the JDK is organized so it belongs to a
1562 module, e.g. `java.base` or `jdk.jdwp.agent`. You can build only a specific
1563 module, by giving it as make target: `make jdk.jdwp.agent`. If the specified
1564 module depends on other modules (e.g. `java.base`), those modules will be built
1565 first.
1566
1567 You can also specify a set of modules, just as you can always specify a set of
1568 make targets: `make jdk.crypto.cryptoki jdk.crypto.ec jdk.crypto.mscapi
1569 jdk.crypto.ucrypto`
1570
1571 #### Building Individual Module Phases
1572
1573 The build process for each module is divided into separate phases. Not all
1574 modules need all phases. Which are needed depends on what kind of source code
1575 and other artifact the module consists of. The phases are:
1576
1577 * `gensrc` (Generate source code to compile)
1578 * `gendata` (Generate non-source code artifacts)
1579 * `copy` (Copy resource artifacts)
1580 * `java` (Compile Java code)
1581 * `launchers` (Compile native executables)
1582 * `libs` (Compile native libraries)
1583 * `rmic` (Run the `rmic` tool)
1584
1585 You can build only a single phase for a module by using the notation
1586 `$MODULE-$PHASE`. For instance, to build the `gensrc` phase for `java.base`,
1587 use `make java.base-gensrc`.
1588
1589 Note that some phases may depend on others, e.g. `java` depends on `gensrc` (if
1590 present). Make will build all needed prerequisites before building the
1591 requested phase.
1592
1593 #### Skipping the Dependency Check
1594
1595 When using an iterative development style with frequent quick rebuilds, the
1596 dependency check made by make can take up a significant portion of the time
1597 spent on the rebuild. In such cases, it can be useful to bypass the dependency
1598 check in make.
1599
1600 > **Note that if used incorrectly, this can lead to a broken build!**
1601
1602 To achieve this, append `-only` to the build target. For instance, `make
1603 jdk.jdwp.agent-java-only` will *only* build the `java` phase of the
1604 `jdk.jdwp.agent` module. If the required dependencies are not present, the
1605 build can fail. On the other hand, the execution time measures in milliseconds.
1606
1607 A useful pattern is to build the first time normally (e.g. `make
1608 jdk.jdwp.agent`) and then on subsequent builds, use the `-only` make target.
1609
1610 #### Rebuilding Part of java.base (JDK\_FILTER)
1611
1612 If you are modifying files in `java.base`, which is the by far largest module
1613 in the JDK, then you need to rebuild all those files whenever a single file has
1614 changed. (This inefficiency will hopefully be addressed in JDK 10.)
1615
1616 As a hack, you can use the make control variable `JDK_FILTER` to specify a
1617 pattern that will be used to limit the set of files being recompiled. For
1618 instance, `make java.base JDK_FILTER=javax/crypto` (or, to combine methods,
1619 `make java.base-java-only JDK_FILTER=javax/crypto`) will limit the compilation
1620 to files in the `javax.crypto` package.
1621
1622 ### Learn About Mercurial
1623
1624 To become an efficient JDK developer, it is recommended that you invest in
1625 learning Mercurial properly. Here are some links that can get you started:
1626
1627 * [Mercurial for git users](http://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/GitConcepts)
1628 * [The official Mercurial tutorial](http://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/Tutorial)
1629 * [hg init](http://hginit.com/)
1630 * [Mercurial: The Definitive Guide](http://hgbook.red-bean.com/read/)
1631
1632 ## Understanding the Build System
1633
1634 This section will give you a more technical description on the details of the
1635 build system.
1636
1637 ### Configurations
1638
1639 The build system expects to find one or more configuration. These are
1640 technically defined by the `spec.gmk` in a subdirectory to the `build`
1641 subdirectory. The `spec.gmk` file is generated by `configure`, and contains in
1642 principle the configuration (directly or by files included by `spec.gmk`).
1643
1644 You can, in fact, select a configuration to build by pointing to the `spec.gmk`
1645 file with the `SPEC` make control variable, e.g. `make SPEC=$BUILD/spec.gmk`.
1646 While this is not the recommended way to call `make` as a user, it is what is
1647 used under the hood by the build system.
1648
1649 ### Build Output Structure
1650
1651 The build output for a configuration will end up in `build/<configuration
1652 name>`, which we refer to as `$BUILD` in this document. The `$BUILD` directory
1653 contains the following important directories:
1654
1655 ```
1656 buildtools/
1657 configure-support/
1658 hotspot/
1659 images/
1660 jdk/
1661 make-support/
1662 support/
1663 test-results/
1664 test-support/
1665 ```
1666
1667 This is what they are used for:
1668
1669 * `images`: This is the directory were the output of the `*-image` make
1670 targets end up. For instance, `make jdk-image` ends up in `images/jdk`.
1671
1672 * `jdk`: This is the "exploded image". After `make jdk`, you will be able to
1673 launch the newly built JDK by running `$BUILD/jdk/bin/java`.
1674
1675 * `test-results`: This directory contains the results from running tests.
1676
1677 * `support`: This is an area for intermediate files needed during the build,
1678 e.g. generated source code, object files and class files. Some noteworthy
1679 directories in `support` is `gensrc`, which contains the generated source
1680 code, and the `modules_*` directories, which contains the files in a
1681 per-module hierarchy that will later be collapsed into the `jdk` directory
1682 of the exploded image.
1683
1684 * `buildtools`: This is an area for tools compiled for the build platform
1685 that are used during the rest of the build.
1686
1687 * `hotspot`: This is an area for intermediate files needed when building
1688 hotspot.
1689
1690 * `configure-support`, `make-support` and `test-support`: These directories
1691 contain files that are needed by the build system for `configure`, `make`
1692 and for running tests.
1693
1694 ### Fixpath
1695
1696 Windows path typically look like `C:\User\foo`, while Unix paths look like
1697 `/home/foo`. Tools with roots from Unix often experience issues related to this
1698 mismatch when running on Windows.
1699
1700 In the JDK build, we always use Unix paths internally, and only just before
1701 calling a tool that does not understand Unix paths do we convert them to
1702 Windows paths.
1703
1704 This conversion is done by the `fixpath` tool, which is a small wrapper that
1705 modifies unix-style paths to Windows-style paths in command lines. Fixpath is
1706 compiled automatically by `configure`.
1707
1708 ### Native Debug Symbols
1709
1710 Native libraries and executables can have debug symbol (and other debug
1711 information) associated with them. How this works is very much platform
1712 dependent, but a common problem is that debug symbol information takes a lot of
1713 disk space, but is rarely needed by the end user.
1714
1715 The JDK supports different methods on how to handle debug symbols. The
1716 method used is selected by `--with-native-debug-symbols`, and available methods
1717 are `none`, `internal`, `external`, `zipped`.
1718
1719 * `none` means that no debug symbols will be generated during the build.
1720
1721 * `internal` means that debug symbols will be generated during the build, and
1722 they will be stored in the generated binary.
1723
1724 * `external` means that debug symbols will be generated during the build, and
1725 after the compilation, they will be moved into a separate `.debuginfo` file.
1726 (This was previously known as FDS, Full Debug Symbols).
1727
1728 * `zipped` is like `external`, but the .debuginfo file will also be zipped
1729 into a `.diz` file.
1730
1731 When building for distribution, `zipped` is a good solution. Binaries built
1732 with `internal` is suitable for use by developers, since they facilitate
1733 debugging, but should be stripped before distributed to end users.
1734
1735 ### Autoconf Details
1736
1737 The `configure` script is based on the autoconf framework, but in some details
1738 deviate from a normal autoconf `configure` script.
1739
1740 The `configure` script in the top level directory of the JDK is just a thin
1741 wrapper that calls `make/autoconf/configure`. This in turn will run `autoconf`
1742 to create the runnable (generated) configure script, as
1743 `.build/generated-configure.sh`. Apart from being responsible for the
1744 generation of the runnable script, the `configure` script also provides
1745 functionality that is not easily expressed in the normal Autoconf framework. As
1746 part of this functionality, the generated script is called.
1747
1748 The build system will detect if the Autoconf source files have changed, and
1749 will trigger a regeneration of the generated script if needed. You can also
1750 manually request such an update by `bash configure autogen`.
1751
1752 In previous versions of the JDK, the generated script was checked in at
1753 `make/autoconf/generated-configure.sh`. This is no longer the case.
1754
1755 ### Developing the Build System Itself
1756
1757 This section contains a few remarks about how to develop for the build system
1758 itself. It is not relevant if you are only making changes in the product source
1759 code.
1760
1761 While technically using `make`, the make source files of the JDK does not
1762 resemble most other Makefiles. Instead of listing specific targets and actions
1763 (perhaps using patterns), the basic modus operandi is to call a high-level
1764 function (or properly, macro) from the API in `make/common`. For instance, to
1765 compile all classes in the `jdk.internal.foo` package in the `jdk.foo` module,
1766 a call like this would be made:
1767
1768 ```
1769 $(eval $(call SetupJavaCompilation, BUILD_FOO_CLASSES, \
1770 SETUP := GENERATE_OLDBYTECODE, \
1771 SRC := $(TOPDIR)/src/jkd.foo/share/classes, \
1772 INCLUDES := jdk/internal/foo, \
1773 BIN := $(SUPPORT_OUTPUTDIR)/foo_classes, \
1774 ))
1775 ```
1776
1777 By encapsulating and expressing the high-level knowledge of *what* should be
1778 done, rather than *how* it should be done (as is normal in Makefiles), we can
1779 build a much more powerful and flexible build system.
1780
1781 Correct dependency tracking is paramount. Sloppy dependency tracking will lead
1782 to improper parallelization, or worse, race conditions.
1783
1784 To test for/debug race conditions, try running `make JOBS=1` and `make
1785 JOBS=100` and see if it makes any difference. (It shouldn't).
1786
1787 To compare the output of two different builds and see if, and how, they differ,
1788 run `$BUILD1/compare.sh -o $BUILD2`, where `$BUILD1` and `$BUILD2` are the two
1789 builds you want to compare.
1790
1791 To automatically build two consecutive versions and compare them, use
1792 `COMPARE_BUILD`. The value of `COMPARE_BUILD` is a set of variable=value
1793 assignments, like this:
1794 ```
1795 make COMPARE_BUILD=CONF=--enable-new-hotspot-feature:MAKE=hotspot
1796 ```
1797 See `make/InitSupport.gmk` for details on how to use `COMPARE_BUILD`.
1798
1799 To analyze build performance, run with `LOG=trace` and check `$BUILD/build-trace-time.log`.
1800 Use `JOBS=1` to avoid parallelism.
1801
1802 Please check that you adhere to the [Code Conventions for the Build System](
1803 http://openjdk.java.net/groups/build/doc/code-conventions.html) before
1804 submitting patches.
1805
1806 ## Contributing to the JDK
1807
1808 So, now you've built your JDK, and made your first patch, and want to
1809 contribute it back to the OpenJDK Community.
1810
1811 First of all: Thank you! We gladly welcome your contribution.
1812 However, please bear in mind that the JDK is a massive project, and we must ask
1813 you to follow our rules and guidelines to be able to accept your contribution.
1814
1815 The official place to start is the ['How to contribute' page](
1816 http://openjdk.java.net/contribute/). There is also an official (but somewhat
1817 outdated and skimpy on details) [Developer's Guide](
1818 http://openjdk.java.net/guide/).
1819
1820 If this seems overwhelming to you, the Adoption Group is there to help you! A
1821 good place to start is their ['New Contributor' page](
1822 https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/Adoption/New+Contributor), or start
1823 reading the comprehensive [Getting Started Kit](
1824 https://adoptopenjdk.gitbooks.io/adoptopenjdk-getting-started-kit/en/). The
1825 Adoption Group will also happily answer any questions you have about
1826 contributing. Contact them by [mail](
1827 http://mail.openjdk.java.net/mailman/listinfo/adoption-discuss) or [IRC](
1828 http://openjdk.java.net/irc/).
1829
1830 ---
1831 # Override styles from the base CSS file that are not ideal for this document.
1832 header-includes:
1833 - '<style type="text/css">pre, code, tt { color: #1d6ae5; }</style>'
1834 ---