Jikes! More open source code IBM jumps on the open-source bandwagon by releasing code for Java compiler By Antone Gonsalves and Peter Coffee, PC Week Online December 7, 1998 9:00 AM ET IBM today will join the growing ranks of open-source developers when it releases the source code of its Jikes Java compiler. At the Java Business Expo in New York, IBM will announce that Jikes, a Java byte code generator, is being moved to an open-source mode of development. Jikes is IBM's second piece of technology to go to an open-source model. The first was its XML Parser for Java. The Armonk, N.Y., company chose to adopt an open-source model, popularized by Linux and the Apache Web server, for Jikes as a way to push more development in Java, a critical platform for many IBM technologies, officials said. "It's a way to drive the growth of markets that are built on open standards platforms, that then make it much easier for everybody to compete with commercial products on top of that [platform]," said Jim Russell, senior manager of Java technology for IBM, in Hawthorne, N.Y. "Clearly in the end, IBM, like everybody else, is in the business to make money," Russell said. "But there are cases where it makes sense from a strategic, business sense to take a technology out of research and make it open source." IBM does not plan to charge users for the source code of the compiler, but developers who use it will have to credit IBM on any product that uses Jikes or a portion of the technology. In addition, any modifications done to the source code would have to be approved by IBM before they can be identified as Jikes technology, Russell said. Jikes is actually a more stringent enforcer of Java than Sun Microsystems Inc.'s own compilers, IBM officials said. Jikes--a rival, yet compliant, version of Sun's Java compiler--notifies developers during compilation when source code significantly deviates from the Java specification. IBM's research lab has been aggressive in developing Java technology, but Russell dismissed any suggestion that IBM was impatient with Sun's Java development process. "We view it not so much as we can't wait for Sun, but here's something we're able to do as scientists that we want to contribute to the Java community," Russell said. Sun officials in Palo Alto, Calif., were not available for comment. IBM will encourage developers to build new features for Jikes and will form a committee made up of members of the open-source community and company representatives to evaluate those contributions before they are accepted, officials said. "Just like the Apache group, we want to make sure the name [Java] doesn't become diluted," Russell said. "You want the benefits of an open-source development model, but you also want to avoid the dangers of fragmentation." IBM's move comes as IT managers are warming to benefits of the Linux operating system and other open-source-code offerings. Commercial companies that have gone that route include Netscape Communications Corp., of Mountain View, Calif., with its Mozilla project, and Novell Inc., of Provo, Utah, which plans to open up portions of its cornerstone Novell Directory Services software to users and developers. The URL for the Jikes source code is www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula/jikesos From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 22:24:54 1998