[Info-vax] Java portability and VMS

[Jeremy Begg]

Hi Wendell,

Wendell wrote:
> I have been looking for info regarding Java on OpenVMS and
> portability. The only thing I found so far is here:
> http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v10/javavms.pdf
> 
...
> Of course, it always takes special care to write Java programs to be
> platform-independent, but this sounds like any significant application
> would require special porting to run on VMS. Is that true?

I don't necessarily think that's true.  For example, a couple of years ago I 
went looking for software to implement "AS2" on OpenVMS.  (AS2 is a standard 
for secure, authenticated delivery of documents.)

I didn't find any native OpenVMS AS2 applications but I did find one written 
in Java.  The vendor had to rebuild it for the JRE version we had on 
OpenVMS, but once they did that it worked without any changes.  The vendor 
didn't have a VMS system (and probably still doesn't); they just sent us the 
application and it worked.  All I had to do was convert some UNIX shell 
scripts to DCL procedures.  (The scripts just automated the startup and 
shutdown of the AS2 server.)


So as always when porting ... Your Mileage May Vary.

Regards,

	Jeremy Begg