Re: [Gnu-arch-users] java port

[Jan Hudec]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 11:53:42 +0200, David Bernard wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm a newbee with tla, I try it on linux fin and on windows (error). I like
> ideas of gnu-arch.
> I found some mail about java wrapper/gui but no url or source code. What I 
> would
> try is a port gnu-arch to java. Have got some time next month to work on it.
> My questions are :
> Someone or team already work on this port ?
> 
> Have some doc/specification (I not fluant in C) where command are explain 
> (what
> is done on under {arch} directory... ?
> 
> Have you some advice ?

Don't do it. It's a lot work and a little gain. And java is not
particularly good language for it.

1) It breaks on windows mainly because it's filesystem, and interface to
   it, is broken. One of the basic ideas behind arch is, that filesystem
   itself is designed for storage of structured data -- so don't create
   another level on top of it. But Windows with their 250 character path
   limit and case-insensitive-but-preserving behaviour is just a little
   tricky to get it work on. Java does not have the power to fix this.
2) It makes use of several external programs -- diff, patch and tar.
   Unless you have java implementation of these, it won't win you
   anything. And in fact, these tools are part of the windows problems,
   because they need to have the path issues resolved as well.
3) Java will not give you any advantage in speed of development (after
   all, C++ is a stronger language), but the result will be slower and
   need more memory.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Jan 'Bulb' Hudec 
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