HP-UX Java™ SDK Version 1.3.1.12 Release Notes


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These Release Notes are provided in the software and as a standalone file on this website. The website has the most recent information.

The HP-UX SDK, for the Java™ 2 Platform Version 1.3 release provides the tools for developing and deploying Java applications on HP-UX 11.0 and 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC, and HP-UX 11.22 (11i v1.6) and 11.23 (11i v2) Itanium-based workstations and servers. Note that HP-UX 11.20 is not supported.
 

Table of contents

» Features
 » SDK 1.3.1.12
 » Version numbering
 » HotSpot version 1.3.1.12 server JVM
 » Previous 1.3 releases

» Installation
 » Patches
 » Minimum system recommendation
 » Installation instructions
 » Installing into an alternate location
 » File structure

» Usage documentation
 » Excluding methods from being compiled (PA-RISC and Itanium)
 » Support for C++ -AA and -AP options
 » Supported tools and options
 » Additional HotSpot option information
 » HP specific options and features
 » Large Java heap sizes
 » Expanding heap size in native applications HP-UX 11.0 & 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC
 » Expanding heap size 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC
 » Application dependent considerations when using large heap size
 » Using WDB to examine backtraces in Java thread stacks
 » Asian TrueType fonts and Asian locales
 » Date/Time methods - New defaults
 » Profiling capability added
 » Using JNI - Main/Primordial thread stack size limits
 » Using JNI - Non-Main/Primordial thread stack size limits
 » Using JNI - Dereferencing null pointers
 » Using JPDA
 » Manually launching the application VM when debugging
 » Closing a socket when accept or read is pending (PA-RISC)
 » C and C++ libraries
 » Compatibility between release 1.3 and previous releases
 » Web sites with more information

» Problem fixes and Known issues
 » Problem fixes
 » Known issues
 » Using the C++ (-AA) option (PA-RISC)
 » Using -Xeprof with -Xcomp (Itanium)
 » shl_load HotSpot libjvm problem due to TLS
 » On stack replacement (PA-RISC)
 » Compiler safe points (PA-RISC)
 » Missing property files for Japanese printing
 » Using X Font Server with Asian True Type Fonts
 » Using linker option +noenvvar on Itanium and PA-64 systems
 » Running Java with setuid or setgid
 » Running Aries Itanium emulation on PA2.0

Features

SDK version 1.3.1.12 (PA-RISC and Itanium)

The 1.3.1.12 version of the HP-UX SDK, for the Java 2 Platform, HotSpot 1.3.1.12 Edition is a maintenance release that fixes defects, which are described in Fixes and Known Issues in this document.

The 1.3.1.12 version of the HP-UX SDK includes Sun Microsystems' release 1.3.1_08. Please note that on occasion HP backports a defect fix from a Sun release that has not yet been merged into our current sources. Therefore a Sun defect may be fixed in an HP release even though the Sun release that contains the fix is not part of the HP release.

This release continues to support a 100% Java compatible environment.

Version numbering

  • In order to create a very high degree of compatibility between your PA and IA platforms, we have merged the sources for the product under one release model and now have a unified release numbering scheme. Beginning with this SDK version 1.3.1.06, source code for both PA and Itanium Processor Family (IPF) systems is included.

  • Starting with HotSpot 1.3.1, HP uses the same version numbering scheme for HotSpot as for the SDK, following JavaSoft's convention.

HotSpot version 1.3.1.12 server JVM

This SDK 1.3.1.12 release includes the HotSpot 1.3.1.12 server JVM (the default) and the Classic VM. See the note above on version numbering.

The HotSpot 1.3.1.12 Server JVM for HP-UX 11.0, 11.11 (11i v1) and 11.22 (11i v1.6) is suitable for both client and server workloads. We invoke the Server VM with configuration options that suit client-side applications. All the -X options that were in HotSpot 1.0.1 are included in HotSpot 1.3.1.

The HP-UX SDK, for the Java 2 Platform, HotSpot 1.3.1 Edition includes all of the standard Java 2 SDK Tools. The tools include appletviewer (with a graphical user interface), extcheck, jar, java, javac, javadoc, javah, javap, jdb and oldjdb (only for -classic mode), rmic, rmid, rmiregistry, serialver, keytool, jarsigner, policytool, native2ascii, tnameserv, and idlj.

The HotSpot 1.3.1 Server JVM provided a number of improvements over the previous HotSpot 1.01 and Classic runtime environments:

  • Improved performance

  • Full implementation of Java VM Debugging Interface (JVMDI)

  • Support for Java VM Profiling Interface (JVMPI)

  • Support for HP's debugger WDB 3.0.01 for Java stack unwind

  • Support for the -Xeprof option for HPjmeter

  • A new option, -Xrs, which reduces the use of operating system signals by the Java Virtual Machine

  • A new option, -pa that launches the PA driver on an IPF system

  • Large heap size (HP-UX 11i) PA-RISC

  • Full implementation of JPDA and its interface JVMDI allows you to run HotSpot instead of Classic when using the 1.3 SDK with numerous tools such as WebGain Visual Cafe, TogetherSoft Control Center, Code Warrior, Oracle JDeveloper, IBM Visual Age, Netbeans, JDE, MetaMata, Tek. Tools, Elixier IDE, BlueJ, JIG, JSwat Project, Swing Debugger, and the sample debugger jdb that ships with SDK 1.3. For more information on JPDA and JVMDI, go to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/jpda/jpda.html

  • Support for JVMPI means that it is possible to profile Java code with the HotSpot 1.3.1 VM. Therefore, you can extract more accurate runtime profiles. Some of the tools based on JVMPI include: hprof (-Xrunhprof), JProbe, JUM, and OptimizeIt. (Note: Although -hprof provides some stack trace information not found in -Xeprof, the latter can sometimes be more useful for performance tuning.) For more information on JVMPI, go to http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/guide/jvmpi/

  • You can now use HP's debugger WDB 3.0.01 to examine backtraces containing mixed language frames (Java and C/C++) in Java thread stacks. This will simplify debugging the VM and Java mixed-language applications. For details, see Using WDB to Debug the JVM in these release notes.

  • The -Xrs option is fully documented at
    http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/tooldocs/solaris/java.html

  • Large heap size (HP-UX 11i PA-RISC). Please see the section Large Heap Sizes in these release notes for further information.

Previous 1.3 releases

For more detailed information on previous 1.3 releases, see the release notes for each release on HP-UX Java™ Archived Releases Downloads and Documentation.
 

Installation

Patches

*** IMPORTANT NOTE for PA-RISC Customers! ***

In addition to the required patches listed on our website http://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPUXJAVAHOME, for this release you must install the patch shown below.

Itanium-based systems are not affected.

Required patch PHCO_29959 for HP-UX 11.0
or
Required patch PHCO_29960 for HP-UX 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC

Operating system patches should be installed before you install the software. To determine which patches have been installed on your machine, login as root and check your machine with: /usr/sbin/swlist -l product

For the most up-to-date list of required and recommended patches, and instructions on where to obtain them, visit the patches page. Please install any dependency patches as well. These will be listed on the IT Resource Center web page from where you download the patch.

The IT Resource Center (the download site for patches) has a patches tool which allows you to create your own bundle before downloading. When you add the required patch to the Selected Patches List, the list displays not only the patch you selected, but also additional patches required by your selected patch.

Minimum system recommendation

HP-UX PA-RISC systems: For best performance on HP-UX PA-RISC systems: HP server series rp5400, rp7400, rp8400, and Superdome, and PA-based workstations, running HP-UX 11.0, 11.11 (11i v1), or 11.23 (11i v2). The minimum system for running Java applications is a PA-RISC 2.0 system.

HP-UX Itanium-based systems: HP rx4610, rx5670, and rx9610 servers and the HP i2000 workstation.

Installation instructions

If you download the software from the website, you need approximately 60MB of disk space to download the .depot file. To install the software from the .depot file, you need an additional 100MB disk space. After installing the software, you can remove the .depot file. The HP-UX SDK, for the Java 2 Platform installs under /opt/java1.3. As root user, use the SD-UX swinstall command to install the software:

/usr/sbin/swinstall

It will lead you through the installation. Change Source Depot Type to "Local Directory" and Source Depot Path to /tmp/<filename>. (If you used a directory other than /tmp in the previous step, replace /tmp with that directory name.) We recommend you select the "Reinstall filesets" and unselect the "Mount filesystems" option from the options menu.

WARNING: Do not unarchive rt.jar, charsets.jar, jpda.jar, tools.jar, jce.jar, and jsse.jar. These files are needed by the SDK tools and the runtime environment.

Add the directory /opt/java1.3/bin to your PATH.

Note: To install the software into an alternate location, see
"Installing into an alternate location".

For information on setting important system parameters required for correct execution of Java programs go to the Programmer's Guide for Java™ 2.

Installing into an alternate location

To install the software into an alternate location, add @/<alternatedirectory> to the end of the swinstall line, and add the alternate directory to your PATH.

For example:

/usr/sbin/swinstall -s <download> \* @/<alternatedirectory>

Java prepends <alternatedirectory> to the default product path. Java will therefore install in /<alternatedirectory>/opt/java1.3.

If you want your Java home directory in <alternatedirectory> without the /opt/java1.3 directories, you need to install into a temporary directory, and then move the directories to where you want them.

For example:

swinstall -s <download> \* @/<temporarydirectory>
mv <temporarydirectory>/opt/java*/* <finalalternatedirectory>

Or you can install and link to the directories.

For example:

swinstall -s <download> \* @/<actualdirectory>
ln -s <finalalternatedirectory> /<actualdirectory>/opt/java*

You will notice that the two files, <alternatedirectory>/etc and <alternatedirectory>/var are created. These may be purged, because they do not apply to a product installed in an alternate location.

Note that we are testing another method of installing into an alternate location using <tag>. When we are confident that this method works with software depot install, we will post instructions here.

File structure

The diagram below displays an abbreviated form of the file structure:

  java1.3
     |
  ___|_____________________________________________________
   |        |        |         |           |          |    
  bin      lib      jre      src.jar      demo     include 
   |        |        |
  java    tools.jar  |
  javac   dt.jar     |
  javadoc ir.idl     |
  javah   orb.idl    |
  javap              | 
  jdb                |
                  ___|______________
                     |             |
                    bin           lib
                     |             |
   __________________|______     __|_____________________________________
   |       |       |      |        |         |     |         |         |
java PA_RISC PA_RISC2  IA64     rt.jar security PA_RISC PA_RISC2.0   IA64
       ___|___ ___|_______|__   il8n.jar      _____|__  __|_____     ___|_____ 
          |       |       |                    |     |   |   |        |     |    
      native   native  native              classic HS* classic HS* classic HS*
      threads  threads threads                                         
          |       |       |
        java    java    java

HS*  = hotspot

The tools install under opt/java1.3/bin and the libraries install under opt/java1.3/lib. The tools.jar file contains the classes for supporting the tools and utilities. The file dt.jar contains the DesignTime archive of BeanInfo files.

The jre directory includes the runtime environment. The file rt.jar contains the runtime classes for the core API. The file il8n.jar contains the internationalization and localization classes and files. The security directory contains security management files. The PA_RISC and PA_RISC2 directories contain the shared libraries used by the HP-UX platform. The file src.jar contains an archive of source files for the core API for informational purposes. To view the files, enter the command:

$ jar xvf src.jar

The include directory contains the header files for supporting JNI and JVMDI.
 

Usage documentation

The HP-UX Programmer's Guide for Java 2 provides additional information.

The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, v 1.3 API Specification is provided at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/api/index.html. Note: Only the java.x packages are supported.

Below are some additional documentation notes.

Excluding methods from being compiled (PA-RISC and Itanium)

To prevent the HotSpot runtime compiler from compiling certain methods, you can create a file called .hotspot_compiler and add the method to be excluded to the file.

For example, if you want to exclude java/lang/String.indexOf() from being compiled, you would add the following line to the .hotspot_compiler file:

exclude java/lang/String indexOf

By default, the HotSpot VM looks for .hotspot_compiler under the directory where libjvm.sl resides. In addition, it looks for a .hotspot_compiler file in the current directory where the JVM was started.

For example, if you are running the JVM on a PA2.0 server, narrow mode, and the JVM was started from a script called run.sh in the directory /app/myapp/bin, it first looks in the directory {JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/PA_RISC2.0/server and then it looks for a .hotspot_compiler file in the /app/myapp/bin directory.

Another way to exclude a method is to specify the .hotspot_compiler file using the VM option
-XX:CompileCommandFile=<list of .hotspot_compiler files separated by ":">

Example: -XX:CompileCommandFile=/tmp/foo/.hotspot_compiler_app_version_71:\
/tmp/foo2/hc81

If you specify the -XX:CompileCommandFile option it overrides the default behavior of the VM and the VM will NOT scan either the libjvm.sl directory or the current directory for a .hotspot_compiler file.

Support for C++ -AA and -AP options

Starting with 1.4.1.03 and 1.3.1.10, Java supports the -AA and -AP options to build your C++ product. On Itanium systems, the C++ runtime libraries support -AA and -AP by default. On PA-RISC systems, for the -AA option you need to set your SHLIB_PATH environment variable. See Using the C++ (-AA) option (PA-RISC) in these release notes.

Supported tools and options

The HotSpot technology accepts all of the standard tools and options. For standard tools and options documentation, refer to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/index.html

To run a tool on HP-UX, either use the full path name or add the path to the startup file. For example, for javac, on the command line you could enter:
/opt/java1.3/bin/javac yourfile.java. You could alternatively add /opt/java1.3/bin to your PATH statement and on the command line enter: javac yourfile.java

Additional HotSpot option information

The HotSpot technology accepts all of the standard options as well as the following partial list of non-standard -X options. Non-standard options are subject to change in future releases.

-pa
Launches the PA driver and uses the PA2.0 libraries while executing on an IPF system.

-verbosegc or -verbose:gc
Prints out the result of a garbage collection to the stdout stream. At every garbage collection, the following 5 fields are printed:

[%T %B->%A(%C), %D]

%T is "GC:" when the garbage collection is a scavenge, and "Full GC:" when its a full garbage collection. A scavenge collects live objects from the New Generation only, whereas a full garbage collection collects objects from all spaces in the Java heap.

%B is the size of Java heap used before garbage collection, in KB.

%A is the size after garbage collection, in KB.

%C is the current capacity of the entire Java heap, in KB.

%D is the duration of the collection in milliseconds.

-X
Prints out a brief usage message describing the non-standard options.

-Xbatch
Disables background compilation. If compilation of a large method is taking a long time, the performance engine will revert to interpreting the method. It will compile the method as a background task, running the method in interpreter mode until the background compilation is finished. The -Xbatch flag disables background compilation so that compilation of all methods proceeds as a foreground task until completed, regardless of how long the compilation takes. This flag is provided for users who desire more deterministic behavior of method compilation for purposes such as benchmarking.

-Xbootclasspath:<bootclasspath>
Specify a colon-separated list of directories, JAR archives, and ZIP archives to search for boot class files. The specified boot class libraries will be used instead of the boot class files in the jre/lib/rt.jar archive normally used by the Java 2 software.

-Xincgc
Enable the incremental garbage collector. The incremental garbage collector, which is off by default, will eliminate occasional garbage-collection pauses during program execution. However, it can lead to a roughly 10% decrease in overall performance.

-Xint
Operate in interpreted-only mode. Compilation to native code is disabled, and all bytecodes are executed by the interpreter. The performance benefits offered by the Java HotSpot adaptive compiler will not be present in this mode.

-Xmn
Set the Java new generation heap size (for example: -Xmn64m). The "new generation" is the first generation in HotSpot's generational garbage collector. This option replaces the option -XX:NewSize=N.

-Xms<size>
Specify the initial size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. This value must be a multiple of 1024 greater than 1MB. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes. The default value is 5248KB.

Examples: -Xms4194304
-Xms4096k
-Xms4m

-Xmx
Specify the maximum size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. This value must a multiple of 1024 greater than 2MB. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes. The default value is 64MB. Examples:

Examples: -Xmx83886080
-Xmx81920k
-Xmx80m

-Xnoclassgc
Disables class garbage collection.

-Xoptgc
The optimistic garbage collection flag. Improves garbage collection performance of applications with mostly short-lived objects. A server-side application that creates many short-lived objects for each transaction is likely to benefit greatly with Xoptgc. However this flag should be used with caution. It is not recommended for applications that build up objects quickly during the run time that are not short-lived.

-Xprof
(Excerpt below from Sun Microsystems' documentation.)
Profiles the running program, and sends profiling data to standard output.

-Xrs (HotSpot 1.3.1 and later)
Reduces use of operating-system signals by the Java virtual machine (JVM), allowing for orderly shutdown of a Java application. Allows user cleanup code (such as closing database connections) to run at shutdown, even if the JVM terminates abruptly. For more information, see Javasoft's documentation at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/tooldocs/solaris/java.html.

-Xss<size>
Specifies the size of stack for each new Java thread. The default Java thread stack size is 512 KB. This flag is appropriate for programs that have small thread stack size requirements and/or create several thousand threads, potentially running out of virtual memory. Program threads that overflow the allocated stack will receive java.lang.StackOverFlowException.

Default: -Xss512k (Java 1.3 and 1.4 32-bit mode)
-X1m (Java 1.4 64-bit mode)

-XX:+AggressiveHeap
This option instructs the JVM to push memory use to the limit: the overall heap is around 3850MB, the memory management policy defers collection as long as possible, and (beginning with J2SE 1.3.1.05) some GC activity is done in parallel. Because this option sets heap size, do not use the -Xms or -Xmx options in conjunction with -XX:+AggressiveHeap. Doing so will cause the options to override each other's settings for heap size.

Because the -XX:+AggressiveHeap option has specific system requirements for correct operation and may require privileged access to system configuration parameters, it should be used with caution. We have found it to be useful for certain applications that create a lot of short lived objects.

-XX:+AllowUserSignalHandlers
Instructs the JVM not to complain if the application installs signal handlers.

-XX:CompileCommandFile=<list of .hotspot_compiler files separated by ":">
Specifies one or more .hotspot_compiler files that you do not want to be compiled by the JVM. Specifying this option overrides the default behavior of the JVM which is to scan the libjvm.sl directory or the current directory for a .hotspot_compiler file.

Example: -XX:CompileCommandFile=/tmp/foo/.hotspot_compiler_app_version_71:\
/tmp/foo2/hc81

-XX:+DisableExplicitGC
Disable calls to System.gc(). The JVM still performs garbage collection when necessary.

-XX:MaxNewSize=<size> (not supported on 1.3)
Sets the maximum size of new generation (in bytes). The integer argument specifies bytes. The arguments can be followed by either 'k' or 'm' to specify KB or MB.

-XX:NewSize=<size>
Not supported in SDK 1.3.1.x.

-XX:NewSizeThreadIncrease=<sizeInKb>
Sets the additional size added to desired new generation size per non-daemon thread (in bytes). Note that in HotSpot 1.0.1 this option took an integer that specified a value in Kbytes. Starting with HotSpot 1.3.1, the integer argument specifies bytes. The arguments can now be followed by either 'k' or 'm' to specify Kbytes or Mbytes.

-XX:MaxPermSize
Sets the maximum size of permanent generation (in bytes). Note that in HotSpot 1.0.1 this option took an integer that specified a value in Kbytes. Starting with HotSpot 1.3.1, the integer argument specifies bytes. The arguments can now be followed by either 'k' or 'm' to specify Kbytes or Mbytes.

-XX:SurvivorRatio=<size>
Ratio of eden/survivor space size. Default for SDK 1.4 is 8. If your new generation heap is 100MB, the space reserved for objects to survive a GC is 1/2*(100MB/8), or 6.25MB. Raising this value may improve overall application performance when the New space is large and/or when your application keeps a very low percentage of objects.

-XX:+UseCompilerSafepoints (PA-RISC 1.3.1, 1.4 and later, Itanium 1.4.2 and later)
Enables compiler safe points. In this version, compiler safe points is off by default. Enabling compiler safepoints guarantees a more deterministic delay to stop all running java threads before doing a safepoint operation, namely garbage collection and deoptimization. Note that currently a patch is needed. Refer to Known Problems these release notes for further information.

-XX:+UseGetTimeOfDay (HotSpot 1.3.1 and later)
Instructs the JVM to use the GetTimeOfDay call instead of using the new lightweight mechanism where the number of CPU ticks since the application started is used to calculate the current time. See "Date/Time Methods - New Defaults" in these release notes for more information.

-XX:+UseOnStackReplacement (PA-RISC 1.3.1, 1.4 and later, Itanium 1.4.2 and later)
Enables on stack replacement. In this release, on stack replacement is off by default. On stack replacement enables the interpreter to go into compiled code while it is executing the same instance of the method call. If you enable on stack replacement, you should also enable compiler safe points (see -XX:+UseCompilerSafepoints).

-XX:+UseSIGUSR2 (PA-RISC only)
Use the java command line option -XX:+UseSIGUSR2 if you want the JVM to use SIGUSR2 for internal operations like Thread.interrupt() calls instead of SIGUSR1, the default. This allows you to better implement third party middleware applications that in some versions want to use SIGUSR1 for similar purposes in their native code.

HP specific options and features

Additional HP specific documentation is provided in the Programmer's Guide for Java™ 2.

Noteworthy HP specific options and features from previous 1.3 releases include the following:

  • -pa
  • -pa11 (PA-RISC only)
  • -Xeprof
  • -Xnocatch
  • -Xoptgc
  • -Xprep
  • -verbosegc
  • -Xverbosegc

These are described below.

-pa option
If you have downloaded both the IPF and PA SDK on an IPF system, you can run the PA SDK by specifying this option. Normally, Java detects that you are executing on an IPF system and launches the IPF driver. To launch the PA driver and use the PA2.0 libraries, use this option.

-pa11 option (PA-RISC only)
HP's PA-RISC 2.0 architecture offers performance features not compatible with previous architectures. PA1.1 binaries can be run on a PA1.1 as well as PA2.0 based systems; however, a PA2.0 binary can only run on a PA2.0 based system. Starting with the 1.2.2 release of the SDK, HP includes two versions of the shared libraries comprising APIs and VMs. The PA2.0 shared libraries will be default if the user is running on a PA2.0 system. The user can override the use of the PA2.0 version of the shared libraries on a PA2.0 by specifying the -pa11 flag. For example:

On a PA2.0 based system, invoking Java by typing

java -version

results in something similar to:

java version "1.3.1"
HotSpot VM (..., mixed mode, PA2.0 build 1.3.1.00-00/04/23-PA_RISC 2.0)

The generated version string indicates that the PA2.0 version of the VM will be used.

You can override the use of the PA2.0 version of the VMs and APIs on a PA2.0 system by adding the -pa11 flag as follows:

java -pa11 -version

This results in something similar to:

java version "1.3.1"
HotSpot VM (..., mixed mode, PA1.1 build 1.3.1.00-00/-4/23-PA_RISC 1.1)

The version string indicates that the PA1.1 version of the VM in spite of the fact that we are running on a PA2.0 system.

Note: If you run HotSpot with the -pa11 flag or run on a PA 1.1 system, your heap address space will be restricted to 1G.

-Xeprof option
The -Xeprof option generates profile data for HPjmeter. The -Xeprof option enables profiling of Java applications running on HotSpot version 1.2.2.05 or greater and collects method clock and CPU times, method call count, and call graph. (For more information on HPjmeter, see HPjmeter Downloads and Documentation.)

To profile your application use the following command:

java -Xeprof:<options> ApplicationClassName

To profile your applet, use:

appletviewer -J-Xeprof:<options> URL>

where <options> is a list of <key>[=<value>] arguments separated by commas.

After the profiled applet or application normally terminates execution, the Java Virtual Machine writes the profile data to a file in the current directory.

We have found the following options useful in most cases:

For CPU time metrics with minimal intrusion:

-Xeprof
or
-Xeprof:ie=no

Exact call count information and object creation profiling:

-Xint -Xeprof:ie=no

To see the complete list of available options, use

java -Xeprof:help

Supported -Xeprof options are shown below.

For detailed explanations of each option, refer to -Xeprof Options

times=quick|thorough
time_on=<integer>
(SDK 1.4.1 and later)
time_on=sigusr1|sigusr2 (SDK 1.4.1 and later)
time_slice=<integer> (SDK 1.4.0 and later)
time_slice=sigusr1|sigusr2 (SDK 1.4.0 and later)
file=<filename>
inlining=disable|enable
ie=yes|no

-Xnocatch
Disables the Java "catch-all" signal handler. Use this option to generate clean stack traces from native code.

-Xoptgc
The Xoptgc, or 'optimistic garbage collection' flag, improves garbage collection performance of applications with mostly short-lived objects. A server-side application that creates many short-lived objects for each transaction is likely to benefit greatly with Xoptgc. However this flag should be used with caution. It is not recommended for applications that build up objects quickly during the run time that are not short-lived.

-Xprep
The -Xprep option is used to dynamically preprocess (modify) bytecodes of the classes loaded by the VM. Its syntax is:

-Xprep <factory_class_name>:<arguments>

where <factory_class_name> is a qualified name of the class that will be used to create the preprocessor, and <arguments> is any string that will be passed to the method creating the preprocessor. The location of the factory class must be specified in the -Xbootclasspath option passed to the VM, together with the location of the appropriate rt.jar.

When the -Xprep option is specified, before loading the application classes, the Java VM will load the specified factory class and execute the method in the class declared as:

class <factory_class_name> implements Preprocessor {
public static Preprocessor createPreprocessor (String arg)

where Preprocessor is an interface defined as:

package hp.javatools.bytecode;
public interface Preprocessor {
public abstract byte[] instrument (String name, byte[] klass); }

The VM will pass the <arguments> specified in the -Xprep option to the createPreprocessor method as its only argument. The Preprocessor object returned by the invocation will be saved by the VM.

For each subsequently loaded class, the VM will invoke the instrument() method on the Preprocessor object, passing the name of the class being loaded, and the bytecode representation of the class. The returned array of bytes will be used by the VM as the replacement of the original version of the class. If null is returned, the original version of the class will be used.

-XX:+ServerApp
-XX:+ServerApp is a set of XX options which, when bundled together, make some applications run faster. For each release, the options as well as the values may be different depending upon the default values of XX options. We recommend that you test to see whether this set enhances the performance of your application before you use the option in production.

-Xverbosegc<options>
To better understand how garbage collection works in the HotSpot JVM, we recommend the article "Improving Java Application Performance and Scalability by Reducing Garbage Collection Times and Sizing Memory Using JDK 1.4.1" (November 2002) by Nagendra Nagarajayya and J. Steven Mayer at http://wireless.java.sun.com/midp/articles/garbagecollection2/.

In addition, we recommend HP's tool HPjtune, which graphically displays information contained in an Xverbosegc log. HPjtune is available free from http://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPUXJAVAHOME.

In addition, we recommend HP's tool HPjtune, which graphically displays information contained in an Xverbosegc log.

This option prints out detailed information about the spaces within the Java Heap before and after garbage collection.

The syntax of the option is:

-Xverbosegc[:help][01][:file=[stdoutstderr<filename>]] 

 :help prints this message.

      01 controls the printing of heap information:
       0 Print only after each full GC
       1 (default) Print after every Scavenge and Full GC 
 
      :file=[stdoutstderr<filename>] specifies output file
        stderr     (default) directs output to standard error stream
        stdout     directs output to standard output stream
        <filename> file to which the output will be written
 
At every garbage collection, the following 19 fields are printed:
<GC: %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 %10 %11 %12 %13 %14 %15 %16 %17 %18>

For a detailed explanation of the fields in the -Xverbosegc:help output, see:
HP-UX Java™ -Xverbosegc:help for Java™ 1.2 and 1.3.

Expanding heap size in native applications HP-UX 11.0 & 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC

If you embed libjvm in a native application, and wish to use a large Java heap, you need to ensure that enough private data space is enabled. On HP-UX 11.0 and 11i PA-RISC, by using HP-UX's EXEC_MAGIC linked with "-N" you can expand your available memory space from 1GB to around 1.7GB.

HP-UX 11.0 PA-RISC
With the installation of the required patches shown below (or their superseded patches), you can get larger Java heap by using the command below.

Required Patches: HP-UX 11.0 PHKL_23409 PHKL_28180 PHKL_26136

  • For 1500MB to 2400MB of Java heap use:

    chatr +q3p enable <executable name>

HP-UX 11.11 (11i v1)
With the installation of the required patch shown below (or its superseded patch), you can get larger Java heap by using the commands below.

Required Patch: PHKL_28267 (or its superseded patch)

  • For 1500MB to 2400MB of Java heap use:

    chatr +q3p enable <executable name>

  • For 2400MB to 3.8GB of Java heap use:

    chatr +q3p enable +q4p enable <executable name>

See also Application Dependent Considerations When Using Large Heap Size in these release notes.

Expanding heap size HP-UX 11.11 (11i v1) PA-RISC

Hotspot 1.3.1 now supports heaps up to 3.0GB on HP-UX 11i, with the installation of the patch shown below.

For Java invoked from the command line on HP-UX 11i, Java will automatically choose an appropriate executable.

Required patch: PHKL_27278 (or its superseded patch)

  • For heaps less than 1500MB, the executable is 'java'.

  • For heaps greater than or equal to 1500MB, and less than 2400MB the executable is 'java_q3p'.

  • For heaps of 2400MB to 3.8GB, the executable is 'java_q4p'.

You do not need to directly invoke these programs. Just invoke 'java' as usual, and the appropriate program will be run for you.

In addition, be aware that if you wish to use very large heaps, because of segmentation in the HP-UX virtual address space, when the Java heap is larger than 3000MB, either new space (-Xmn) or old space (-mx minus -Xmn) must be approximately 850MB or less.

See also the next section, "Application Dependent Considerations When Using Large Heap Size."

Application dependent considerations when using large heap size

Thread stacks and C heap are allocated from the same address space as the Java heap, so if you set the Java heap too large, new threads may not start correctly. Or some other part of the runtime or native methods may suddenly fail if the C heap cannot allocate a new page. An application may start up correctly with a 1.7GB heap, but this does not necessarily mean it's going to work correctly.

For example, if you use a 1MB stack size, and have about 80 threads in the process, you will have 80MB for stacks. If you have native libraries, you would probably add another 64MB for C heap. You have now used a total of 144MB of your heap for stacks and C heap, so this address space is not available for Java heap.

Since all programs have varying C heap requirements and have varying numbers of threads, it's difficult to ascertain what the effect will be of running the application at its limit. It's important to understand the real requirements of your application. We recommend that you perform sizing tests before deployment with a realistic load, while monitoring with the -Xverbosegc option and a tool like GlancePlus.

Using WDB to examine backtraces in Java thread stacks

You can now use HP's debugger WDB 3.0.01 (the Gnu Debugger gdb) to examine backtraces containing mixed language frames (Java and C/C++) in Java thread stacks. This will simplify debugging the VM and Java mixed-language applications. Set the environment variable GDB_JAVA_UNWINDLIB to the pathname of the Java Unwind Share Library libjunwind.sl (PA) or libjunwind.so (IA), which is in the SDK.

The default location of the Java Unwind Library in the SDK is:

/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/PA_RISC/server.libjunwind.sl
/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/PA_RISC2.0/server/libjunwind.sl
/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/IA64/server/libjunwind.so

For example, in ksh, you should set the environment variable like this:

For PA1.1 machines:

export GDB_JAVA_UNWINDLIB=/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/PA_RISC\
/libjunwind.sl

For PA2.0 machines:

export GDB_JAVA_UNWINDLIB=/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/PA_RISC2.0\
/libjunwind.sl

For Itanium Processor Family machines:

export GDB_JAVA_UNWINDLIB=/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/IA64\
/libjunwind.so

If you installed the SDK in a location other than the default, you would substitute the non-default location for "/opt/java1.3" in the above commands. Then use WDB as usual to debug your Java applications or core files. See the tutorial slides on Debugging Native Code with gdb (WDB) (PDF, 245KB) for help on how to use the new Java stack unwind functionality.

» Download the latest Adobe® Acrobat® Reader

Asian TrueType fonts and Asian locales

The SDK now supports HP-UX Asian TrueType fonts, with the installation of patches.

For information on which HP-UX patches you need for each language and for additional documentation on fonts, please see the document HP-UX Fonts and the Java™ Runtime Environment.

The following Asian Locales are now supported by HP's SDK with TrueType fonts.

ja_JP.SJIS Japanese with Shift-JIS encoding
ja_JP.eucJP   Japanese with JIS EUC encoding
ko_KR.eucKR   Korean with KSC5601 EUC encoding
zh_CN.gb18030   Simplified Chinese with GB18030 encoding (supported only on HP-UX 11i)
zh_CN.hp15CN   Simplified Chinese, with GB2312 EUC encoding
zh_TW.big5   Traditional Taiwan Chinese with Big5 encoding
zh_TW.eucTW   Traditional Taiwan Chinese with CNS11643 encoding (planes 1-3)
zh_HK.hkbig5   Traditional Hong Kong Chinese with Big5 HK encoding

In HP-UX Fonts and the Java™ Runtime Environment you will find information on the following topics:

» X Windows, Java applications and TrueType fonts
» Installing Asian TrueType fonts
» The hp.fontpath property
» Bitmap vs. scalable fonts
» The JAVA_FONTS environment variable
» How the X font server affects font display
» Controlling the X font server

Date/Time methods - New defaults

There has been a change in the way the HotSpot JVM uses the gettimeofday() system call to obtain date and time information.

For performance reasons a new mechanism is used that uses the number of cpu ticks since the application started, to calculate the current time.

As a result, changes to the system date or time using date(1), adjtime(2) or time synchronization utilities such as ntp will not be reflected in the date and time that Java returns, until the process is restarted.

If your application requires that Java immediately reflects such system time changes, you can use the -XX:+UseGetTimeOfDay option to tell the JVM to use the gettimeofday call instead of the new, lightweight mechanism. However you may notice a drop in performance.

Profiling capability added

SIGPROF handler to support future profiling capability is installed automatically. This may cause incompatibilities with other native code or profiling tools which use SIGPROF.

You can turn off the SIGPROF handler by using the following option:

-XX:+ReduceSignalUsage

However you should be aware that using this option also turns off the SIGQUIT handler. Therefore you will not be able to get a Java stack trace.

Using JNI - Main/Primordial thread stack size limits

The primordial thread is the first thread when a process is created. This is the thread that has the main method. It is also called the main thread. The primordial thread stack size is controlled by the kernel parameter maxssiz or maxssiz_64bit. The Java VM (JVM) has two options for controlling the stack size:

-XX:MainThreadStackSize=n
-Xss[n][k or m]

In the Java VM the size of the primordial thread is restricted to the *greater* of MainThreadStackSize (default 2M) or ThreadStackSize (specified by -Xss). For example, if you specify -Xss1m, the JVM still takes 2M for the main thread. And if you specify -Xss4m, the JVM takes 4M for the main thread as well.

If your application calls JNI_CreateJavaVM or JNI_AttachCurrentThread from the primordial thread, under certain conditions the stack usage could cross the JVM-imposed primordial thread stack size limit of 2M and cause a stack overflow situation in the native code itself, even if no Java code was ever run on the primordial thread.

One workaround is to use the option -XX:MainThreadStackSize=<value> to increase the primordial thread stack size, However be aware that -XX options are non-standard options, and are liable to change from release to release.

Other workarounds and examples are provided in our Programmer's Guide along with the effects of using maxssiz on the amount of writeable data space available to the application. Refer to the JNI chapter of our Programmer's Guide for Java 2 at: Using Java™ 2 JNI on HP-UX

Using JNI - Non-Main/Primordial thread stack size limits

The default stack size for 1.4 64-bit mode JVM- created threads is 1MB. On PA-RISC 32 and 64-bit systems, the default stack size is 64KB. Therefore, if you are using C language main programs that attach with JNI, you will want to adjust the stack size to avoid overflows.

Here are some suggestions to work around stack overflow problems in threads other than the main thread:

  • If the thread is created in native code and is attached to Java through JNI_AttachCurrentThread, increase the stack size attribute when creating the thread with pthread_create.

  • If the thread is created inside Java and there is a stack overflow condition, increase the thread stack size with -Xss<n>

Using JNI - Dereferencing null pointers

In Java 2, JNI code that incorrectly dereferences NULL will result in a SIGSEGV, which may be different behavior than that experienced with Java 1.1 releases. For example, in Java 1.1, JNI methods that dereference NULL pointers like this:

int *p = NULL;
return *p;

will return the value 0.

With the Java 2 the HotSpot VM, such dereferences result in a SIGSEGV, and java NULL checks can be performed without having to emit explicit code to do so. With Java 2 HotSpot, the signal is caught, and a null pointer exception is thrown if the offending instruction was within the VM (compiled code, or in the interpreter). This method may uncover hidden programming errors.

Also, if you are including the HP-UX Runtime Environment for the Java 2 Platform in an application and bypassing our standard driver, for example by making calls to JNI_CreatJavaVM from inside the application, link the application with the "-z" option. The -z option will indicate that dereferencing NULL pointers in the application should generate a SIGSEGV instead of the traditional behavior of returning zero. If you do not, you will not be able to take advantage of implicit null pointer checks; null pointer checks will have to be explicit, potentially degrading performance. Linking with -z may also expose existing but quiet bugs in an application. This is because the SIGSEGVs were not being generated before.

Using JPDA

The JPDA architecture and components are documented at http://java.sun.com/products/jpda/ and http://java.sun.com/reference/docs/index.html. HP's SDK version 1.3.0.01 supports both the HotSpot and Classic VMs. The jdb for HP-UX is similar to the Solaris implementation. For usage information, see "Sun VM Invocation Options" at http://java.sun.com/products/jpda/doc/conninv.html.

Manually launching the application VM
(excerpted from http://java.sun.com/products/jpda/readme.html)

If you are running the version of jdb provided in this release, the application VM is launched for you with the debugger back end loaded. However, in the following cases, you will be launching your own application VM, either by hand or in your implementation.

  1. Remote debugging with the -attach or -listen jdb option.

  2. You are implementing a debugger which uses the JDWP directly.

  3. You are implementing a debugger back end which uses JVMDI.

Currently, the first two cases require a command line like the following:

java -Xdebug -Xnoagent -Djava.compiler=NONE
-Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y
-classpath class-path class-name

-Xdebug option enables debugging. The -Xnoagent disables the default sun.tools.debug debug Agent. The -Djava.compiler=NONE disables the JIT compiler.

For the third case, you must use the same command line options as described above, but you are free to use your own mechanism for loading the JVMDI client into the application VM. You do not need to use -Xrun.

Connection and Invocation Details document at http://java.sun.com/products/jpda/doc/conninv.html contains more information on necessary VM invocation options and sub-options of -Xrunjdwp.

Closing a socket when accept or read is pending (PA-RISC)

Because of changes to the mechanism by which a socket is closed in the VM, you no longer need to use the -XdoCloseWithReadPending option we recommended in earlier releases. The new mechanism uses an ioctl call for which the following two patches (or their superseded patches) are required for PA-RISC only:

The PHNE_26771 for HP-UX 11.00
PHNE_28089 for HP-UX 11.11

Compiling with C++ Libraries

The Libraries compiled with the cfront HP C++ compiler will not work with HotSpot. HotSpot requires use of the HP aCC compiler for any application C++ libraries loaded dynamically at runtime.

Compatibility with previous releases

Compatibility information is provided at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/compatibility.html.

Web sites with more information

The following websites have additional information:

Java Standard Edition Platform Documentation at
http://java.sun.com/docs.

Java 2 SDK version 1.3 features and tools at
http://java.sun.com/reference/docs/index.html.

Java 2 SDK version 1.2 features and tools at
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/index.html.

Java 2 version 1.3 API Specification at
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/api/index.html.

Java 2 platforms and APIs - Authorized Books at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/index.html.

Java tutorial at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html.

Java Security at
http://java.sun.com/security/index.html.

Java Products at
http://java.sun.com/products/.

Java API at
http://java.sun.com/j2se/.

Swing Connection newsletter at
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/index.html.

Performance Tuning Java on HP-UX at
HP-UX performance tuning Java™ (techniques, tools, and tips).
 

Problem fixes and Known issues

Known JavaSoft bugs are documented in the Bug Database at http://developer.java.sun.com/.

Information on JavaSoft 1.3 fixed bugs is available at http://java.sun.com/docs/index.html.

Problem fixes

The 1.3.1.12 release includes enhancements and fixes from previous 1.3.1 releases, and in addition includes the following enhancements and defect fixes.

JAGae92028 HP SR 8606330907
JavaSoft ID: 4692867
UnknownHostException
JAGae91141 HP SR 8606330018
JavaSoft ID: 4887174
  java.util.Date() is unable to give hour in format
JAGae90814 HP SR 8606329691   java.math.BigInteger.toString() performance
JAGae82077 HP SR 8606319589   JVM aborts/dumps core with SIGSEGV
JAGaf02099 HP SR 8606341190   Update Verisign class 2 and class 3 certificates

Known issues

Below is some information on a few problem topics.

Using the C++ (-AA) option (PA-RISC)
On HP-UX 11.0 or 11.11 PA-RISC, if you are using the ANSI C++ standard (-AA) option in an application that loads Java , you need to complete the following steps.

NOTE: On Itanium systems these steps are NOT necessary, since the C++ runtime libraries are designed to support -AA by default.

  1. Run your application with the SHLIB_PATH environment variable set as follows:

    $ SHLIB_PATH=/opt/java1.3/jre/lib/<ARCH>/CXX

    where <ARCH> is PA_RISC, PA_RISC2.0, or PA_RISC2.0W, depending on the architecture of the application that loads Java.

    $ export SHLIB_PATH

  2. Now run the application that was compiled with -AA. The application and Java will both load the ANSI C++ Runtime.

Using -Xeprof with -Xcomp (Itanium)
On Itanium-based systems, using the -Xeprof option in conjunction with -Xcomp may result in abrupt VM termination (abort). The workaround is to not specify -Xcomp when using the -Xeprof option. This defect will be fixed in a future release.

shl_load HotSpot libjvm problem due to TLS
The libjvm library for the HotSpot 1.01 JVM uses thread local storage (TLS). Currently the dynamic loader that is used by shl_load does not support dynamically loading a shared library containing TLS when the library was not included in the link line.

You may have a need to load a library dynamically (using shl_load or dlopen) that contains TLS, for example libjvm.sl, without having linked your application against it. For example, this might be the case if your application uses plug-ins.

The current workaround is a new linker feature LD_PRELOAD that is available for HP-UX 11.0 in patch PHSS_26559. For HP-UX 11i the feature is included. For more information on LD_PRELOAD functionality and its limitations, read the man page for dld.sl AFTER you have installed the patch.

On stack replacement (PA-RISC only)
In this version, on stack replacement is off by default.
To enable it, use the -XX:+UseOnStackReplacement option.

If the VM is executing a method that has a loop with a large number of iterations, an intra-method hotspot will occur. In order to get better performance, the method should run in compiled mode instead of interpreted mode. On stack replacement enables the interpreter to go into compiled code while it is executing the same instance of the method call. If you use on stack replacement, you should also enable compiler safe points (see the next section).

HotSpot compiler safe points (PA-RISC)
NOTE: For both HP-UX 11.0 and 11i, using Compiler Safe Points requires a patch. The required patch numbers are shown below. For information on locating and installing the patches, go to the Installation section in this document.

HP-UX 11.0 PHKL_27770
HP-UX 11i PHKL_24751

Missing property files for Japanese printing
Beginning with the SDK 1.3 for HP-UX, postscript printing is supported. The property files necessary for printing Japanese fonts are shipped as

psfont.properties.ja and psfontj2d.properties.ja.

Using X font server with Asian true type fonts
Because of a defect, we recommend that you do not run the X font server with Asian true type fonts. This problem is fixed in the SDK 1.4 release.

Using linker option +noenvvar on Itanium and PA-64 systems
If your application links with libjvm and uses the JNI interface APIs to load the JVM directly, do not use the linker option +noenvvar on Itanium or PA-64 systems. The defect does not exist on 32-bit systems. It is expected to be fixed in a future release.

Running Java with setuid or setgid
Java requires dynamic loading (SHLIB_PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH) which are disabled in setuid or setgid executables. Therefore Java cannot run with setuid or setgid.

Running Aries Itanium emulation on PA2.0
If you are running the Aries Itanium emulator on a PA2.0 system with HP-UX 11.22 or 11.23, a defect exists which causes Java math calculations to produce incorrect math routine results.

This problem applies to those applications that do Java math calculations, specifically any that use the constant Float.MAX_VALUE, or a floating point value that is the maximum floating value.

Because the same Java math calculations are used in the GUI code, applications that use GUIs will also be affected.

This problem is fixed by installing the following patches:

HP-UX 11.22: PHSS_29654
HP-UX 11.23: PHSS_29658

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