At first the developer changed the GNU Classpath code on any JVM, so
that is no longer compatible to the old one.
So, when a new GNU Classpath version is released, there existing at
first, no JVMs on which it can run.
This depends entirely on the associated projects. JamVM for example is
pretty
fast in always supporting the latest Classpath version out of the box.
After the release, the first JVMs are using the new Classpath version in
its CVS. And later some using the new one. And some are being on older
one (GCC-20050909 used still 0.17; SableVM used still 0.16 in CVS)
GCJ does a lot of things differently and they need special versions of
certain
core classes (String?). Nevertheless efforts are underway to unify
development
as far as possible (At least, I hope so ;) ).
For SableVM the situation is similar. You may ask on the SableVM list for
further details.
From the new versions, which use 0.17 or 0.18, I can either not
compile it
or it (like JamVM), or it have problems with AWT and Swing (IKVM).
Please keep in mind that GNU Classpath is alpha quality software (see
README)
and we cannot promise to *not* make VM-breaking changes between our
release
snapshots. It is one of the long-term goals to reach a stable VM
Interface API
(this is what causes most breakages) but currently this is not possible.
As the
free VMs evolve new requirements are posed upon Classpath.
Especially the projects that leave the roads of traditional Java (I am
speaking
of IKVM.NET and JNode here ...) environments stress the flexibility of
this API
frequently. (Which is good because this will finally bring robustness.)
Btw: It is hardly predictable which new requirements the Apache Harmony
project
may have for us ... :)
Only one thing is for sure: We want to support as many as possible JVM
and JVM
look-alikes in the most elegant and efficient way.
And a CVS-version of Kaffe I have not tried. But Kaffe 1.1.5 don't run
Swing programs on my computer.
For a long long time Kaffe developed its own class library. These days
Dalibor
is applying Classpath' patch flood into Kaffe's library to keep the
projects in
sync.