SableVM release news.

* Version 1.0.9
===============

- Port to various Debian architectures.

- Port to Mac OS X.

- Bug fixes.


* Version 1.0.8
===============

- Bug fixes.


* Version 1.0.7
===============

- Port inline-threaded engine to ia64 and alpha.

- Get SableVM to execute classes compiled using Jikes 1.18.

- Minor bug fixes.


* Version 1.0.6
===============

- Port to PowerPC

- Add more reflection hooks.


* Version 1.0.5
===============

- Port to ia64.

- Minor bug fixes.


* Version 1.0.4
===============

- Work around the libffi header bug by defining new configure macros.

- Implement _svmf_iflush() for processors with distinct data and
  instruction caches.

- Minor bug fixes.


* Version 1.0.3
===============

- Fixed configure.ac to select an inline-threaded interpreter engine
  by default on i*86.  The 1.0.2 version was erroneously defaulting to
  a slower direct-threaded engine.

- Collect some additional interesting statistics (when STATISTICS is
  defined in configure.ac, of course).


* Version 1.0.2
===============

- SableVM is ported to the Alpha 64 bits architecture, thanks to the
  effort of Grzegorz Prokopski <gadek@debian.org>.  It took him 24
  hours, and the "diff" size was 25 lines. :-)  What port is next?

- Some of the few holes left in JNI and in reflection native code have
  been filled.


* Version 1.0.1
===============

- SableVM now waits until all non-daemon threads are died before
  quitting.

- SableVM is now known to run all SPECjvm98 benchmarks, SableCC
  2.17.3, and Soot 1.2.3.

- Convenient build scripts have been added.


* Version 1.0.0
===============

- Threaded interpreter engine in three flavors:
  - inline threaded (Requires GNU C)
  - direct threaded (Requires GNU C)
  - switch threaded (pure ISO C + POSIX)

- Two-word object header. ("java.lang.Object" instances are 2 words
  long, including the hashcode, the lock, the vtable, and additional
  bits).

- Two flavors of object layout: bidirection and traditional.

- The bidirectional object layout allows for tracing an object, at GC
  time, without accessing any data outside the object (vtable, type
  structure), in most cases.  Best effort has been made in the
  traditional layout to minimize external access.

- Precise stop-the-world copying garbage collector. Heap parameters
  are specifiable on the command-line (properties).

- Stop-the-world uses regular non-atomic check operations (except around
  native calls).  Threads running native code are considered "stopped"
  from the VM's point of view.

- Minimization of regular checks by only applying them on back jumps
  to basic blocks that do not include operations like "new", and
  "invoke*", which already contain a check.

- Efficient locals map data-flow analysis which works in presence of
  arbitrarily complex jsr / exception mix.

- Space efficient stack and local GC maps.

- Constant time access to the current stack and local GC map for every
  frame on the Java stack.

- Grow-on-need Java stack size, with command-line (properties)
  specifiable parameters.

- Grow-on-need class-loader memory management, with command-line
  (properties) specifiable parameters.

- "invokeinterface" at the speed of "invokevirtual", using sparse
  interface vtables without memory loss. Holes in the vtables are
  recycled on a class-loader basis for storing other data.

- Thin locks without spin-locking in case of contention.

- A choice of explicit or signal based null checks. Signal based
  checks cost 0 processor cycles on success, but can be expensive in
  case of exceptions. Also, signal based check increase the cost of
  native->Java method invocation (the cost of a "siglongjmp").

- Java based "application class loader" (or system class loader),
  which allows for putting .jar files on the classpath.

- Support for Runtime.traceInstructions/traceMethodCalls in the
  debugging version of the interpreter.

- Easily readable/debuggable code, using explicitly generated
  commented source files for repetitive code.  This is done using a
  set of simple-to-use m4 macros that can be conveniently hidden in C
  code (allowing automatic tools like "indent" to work). No need to
  understand m4 for reading the VM's source code (except if you want
  to look at .m4[.*] files, which is not necessary).

- Licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
  (LGPL).

- And more, for your pleasure!