jRate / News: Recent posts

Stable version 0.3.7.2 and beta version 0.3.8.2beta-3.3.3 of jRate are both now available for download. jRate is an extension of the GNU Java (GCJ) compiler front-end and runtime library which adds support for many of the features required by the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), including threading constructs with real-time constraints, asynchronous event handling, and memory regions. jRate was initially developed at Washington University in St. Louis, and it is released under the GPL (but including the usual GCC exception that non-GPLed programs may be compiled and linked with it).... read more

The jRate project has migrated to using a Subversion repository. Anyone with a CVS checkout may want to review the Subversion access details at <http://sourceforge.net/svn/?group_id=126338> or browse the repository at <http://svn.sourceforge.net/jrate>. All new development will go on in the Subversion repository, CVS is no longer used for jRate.

The next release of jRate, version 0.4.0-3.3.3, is on schedule for an early September release. Only a few remaining bugs need to be squashed. CVS should be fairly stable now, if you're interested in getting a preview. New features include raw/physical memory access, admission control, priority inheritance/ceiling, thread memory allocation limiting, heap checks on the source compilation path, shared thread parameters, HighResolutionClock implementations for additional architectures, several bugfixes, and increased RTSJ compliance.... read more

The next few months will be exciting ones for the jRate project. The next release (hopefully later this month) will be jRate 0.4.0-3.3.3, and will incorporate many new features from the 0.3.8 beta releases.

Specifically, look for shared, updateable thread parameters; fully-implemented MemoryParameters (for heap allocation rate limiting and cumulative immortal allocation size limiting), priority inheritance and priority ceiling support (RTNPTL required), feasibility analysis, raw and physical memory support, more compliant waitForNextPeriod() semantics, heap checks when compiling from Java source (as well as Java bytecode, which was supported in 0.3.8), and the usual slate of bugfixes. To keep track of how close these tasks are to being finished, watch the jRate tasks list at https://sourceforge.net/pm/task.php?group_project_id=43876&group_id=126338&func=browse... read more

Stable version 0.3.7.1 and beta version 0.3.8.1beta-3.3.3 of jRate are both now available for download. jRate is an extension of the GNU GCJ compiler front-end and runtime system which adds support for most of the features required by the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), including threading constructs with real-time constraints, asynchronous event handling, and memory regions. jRate was initially developed at Washington University in St. Louis, and it is released under a license similar to GCC's GPL license (which allows for non-GPLed programs to be compiled and linked).... read more

Beta version 0.3.8beta-3.3.3 of jRate is now available for download. jRate is an extension of the GNU GCJ compiler front-end and runtime system which adds support for most of the features required by the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), including threading constructs with real-time constraints, asynchronous event handling, and memory regions. jRate was initially developed at Washington University in St. Louis, and it is released under a license similar to GCC's GPL license (which allows for non-GPLed programs to be compiled and linked).... read more

Since the release of 0.3.7-3.3.3 a week ago, I have made some enhancements to jRate that I believe are of use to the general jRate user base. I plan to release a somewhat-stable development snapshot with these features soon, since CVS versions of jRate are likely to be quite *unstable* in the near future.

New features/bugfixes since 0.3.7-3.3.3 include: an implementation of one shot timers; proper first-release behavior for periodic tasks (previously the periodic releases were perfect, but the first release could be too soon or too late); and heap checks for NoHeapRealtimeThreads (currently only available when compiling from bytecode, not from Java source).... read more

Stable version 0.3.7-3.3.3 of jRate is now available for download. jRate is an extension of the GNU GCJ compiler front-end and runtime system which adds support for most of the features required by the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), including threading constructs with real-time constraints, asynchronous event handling, and memory regions. jRate was initially developed at Washington University in St. Louis, and it is released under a license similar to GCC's GPL license (which allows for non-GPLed programs to be compiled and linked).... read more

Soon, we will release jRate version 0.3.7-3.3.3, which includes many enhancements and bug fixes made since 0.3.6 was cut some months ago. 0.3.7-3.3.3 works on PowerPC/Linux as well as x86/Linux, and has the potential to work on other platforms too (though we are still testing this). It will include a new build system based on GNU autotools; to build jRate from sources, all you'll need to do is "./configure && make". While this version will probably be based on GCC 3.3.3, Angelo is working on bringing jRate up to GCC 3.4.3 for future releases. GCC 3.4.3 includes various gcj compiler and library fixes/enhancements over 3.3.3 that jRate users will find useful.

The release I've just cut (0.3.6-3.3.3) was a tagged (but, until now, unreleased) jRate version from September. Its main difference from the previous stable version (0.3.4-3.3.2) is that it is built upon gcc version 3.3.3. This release is mostly for historical completeness; it does *not* include the recent bugfixes and PowerPC support that we've added to jRate; we hope to soon release these improvements in the next stable version. These recent improvements are available from CVS.... read more

We have completed jRate's move to SourceForge, so the jRate project can now offer public CVS access, an automated bug tracking system, download mirrors, and a host of other services that we might make use of along the way. All of these services are available from the SourceForge jRate project page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/jrate. Thanks SourceForge!

The existing Majordomo-run mailing lists (jrate-announce and the jRate users' list) at Washington University will remain for the time being. They have been supplemented with the jrate-devel mailing list, hosted here on SourceForge, which will provide a medium for the open discussion of jRate internals---implementation details, design quarrels, and the like. To subscribe to this mailing list or read the archives, access the mailing list interface at http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jrate-devel.