[Vm-dev] [VM-Team] Suggested task list for VM-Team, summer 2009

David T. Lewis lewis at mail.msen.com
Mon Jul 20 18:05:13 UTC 2009


Here is a list of VM updates that I think would be reasonable to accomplish
over the next couple of months. This is based on known issues (Mantis) with
solutions that are either available now, or that can be completed without
significant additional work. Comments? Additions or changes?

Dave

1) Closure support.
 - Priority: High, should be done as soon as possible
 - All major VM distributions should support images with closure bytecodes.
 - Current status: All necessary support incorporated in VMMaker, no platforms
   changes needed.
 - Need Ian to do a build/release to cover Unix/Linux.

2) Changes to support Etoys and teaching for kids.
 - Priority: High, supports large educational programs.
 - Mantis 7266: SerialPlugin doesn't handle arbitrary nodes names
 - Mantis 7103: Playing sounds in linux 64 bits causes a vm segmentation fault
 - Current status: These require changes to VMMaker and platforms sources,
   all platforms effected. Changes are straightforward but must be done in a
   coordinated manner for all platforms.

3) Some simple updates for 23/64 bit platforms.
 - Priority: Low
 - Mantis 7236: Make AsynchFilePlugin work on 32/64 bit images and 32/64 bit unix VMs
 - Mantis 6828: make FileCopyPlugin work on 32/64 bit images and 32/64 bit unix VMs
 - Current status: These are minor updates, low priority but easy to do. Patches
   are available but must be coordinated for all platforms.

4) 64-bit FFI (Interpreter updates as well as FFI)
 - Priority: Medium
 - Mantis 7237: Make FFI work on 64 bit platforms
 - Current status: Patches are available, but additional work and testing may
   be required on some platforms. I consider this update important because it
   effects the interpreter as well as FFI itself, e.g. these changes are
   a prerequisite to closing out the issues in Mantis 6987: "signed32BitValueOf:,
   signed64BitValueOf: etc. broken".



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