This rather large commit modifies the VM to use non-local returns to
throw exceptions instead of simply setting Thread::exception and
returning frame-by-frame as it used to. This has several benefits:
* Functions no longer need to check Thread::exception after each call
which might throw an exception (which would be especially tedious
and error-prone now that any function which allocates objects
directly or indirectly might throw an OutOfMemoryError)
* There's no need to audit the code for calls to functions which
previously did not throw exceptions but later do
* Performance should be improved slightly due to both the reduced
need for conditionals and because undwinding now occurs in a single
jump instead of a series of returns
The main disadvantages are:
* Slightly higher overhead for entering and leaving the VM via the
JNI and JDK methods
* Non-local returns can make the code harder to read
* We must be careful to register destructors for stack-allocated
resources with the Thread so they can be called prior to a
non-local return
The non-local return implementation is similar to setjmp/longjmp,
except it uses continuation-passing style to avoid the need for
cooperation from the C/C++ compiler. Native C++ exceptions would have
also been an option, but that would introduce a dependence on
libstdc++, which we're trying to avoid for portability reasons.
Finally, this commit ensures that the VM throws an OutOfMemoryError
instead of aborting when it reaches its memory ceiling. Currently, we
treat the ceiling as a soft limit and temporarily exceed it as
necessary to allow garbage collection and certain internal allocations
to succeed, but refuse to allocate any Java objects until the heap
size drops back below the ceiling.
When trying to create an array class, we try to resolve
java.lang.Object so we can use its vtable in the array class.
However, if Object is missing, we'll try to create and throw a
ClassNotFoundException, which requires creating an array to store the
stack trace, which requires creating an array class, which requires
resolving Object, etc.. This commit short-circuits this process by
telling resolveClass not to create and throw an exception if it can't
find Object.
While doing the above work, I noticed that the implementations of
Classpath::makeThrowable in classpath-avian.cpp and
classpath-openjdk.cpp were identical, so I made makeThrowable a
top-level function.
Finally, I discovered that Thread.setDaemon can only be called before
the target thread has been started, which allowed me to simplify the
code to track daemon threads in the VM.
We now consult the JAVA_HOME environment variable to determine where
to find the system library JARs and SOs. Ultimately, we'll want to
support self-contained build, but this allows Avian to behave like a
conventional libjvm.so.
The biggest change in this commit is to split the system classloader
into two: one for boot classes (e.g. java.lang.*) and another for
application classes. This is necessary to make OpenJDK's security
checks happy.
The rest of the changes include bugfixes and additional JVM method
implementations in classpath-openjdk.cpp.
Whereas the GNU Classpath port used the strategy of patching Classpath
with core classes from Avian so as to minimize changes to the VM, this
port uses the opposite strategy: abstract and isolate
classpath-specific features in the VM similar to how we abstract away
platform-specific features in system.h. This allows us to use an
unmodified copy of OpenJDK's class library, including its core classes
and augmented by a few VM-specific classes in the "avian" package.
