GNU Classpath, essential libraries for java, is a project to create free core class libraries for use with runtimes, compilers and tools for the java programming language.

The GNU Classpath developer snapshot releases are not directly aimed at the end user but are meant to be integrated into larger development platforms. For example the GCC (gcj) and Kaffe projects will use the
developer snapshots as a base for future versions.

Some highlights of changes in this release:

Much more efficient painting for large Free Swing GUIs. Improved accessibility support. HttpURLConnection rewrite. Official CORBA   VMCID assigned. Start of RMI over IIOP support. Qt4 support for   OS-X. Much improved Free Swing Metal theme. Free Swing Demo includes   theme switcher example (Metal, Ocean, GNU). JBoss now starts up and   Jonas testsuite passes for 95%. Support for the javax.sound.midi   framework and experimental DSSI and ALSA service providers. Early   version of the popular StAX API. Now has 96% coverage of 1.4 API.

This is the first time we also have a pre-release of our 1.5 generics work. classpath-0.19-generics contains a version of the core library that uses the new 1.5 language features such as generics and enumerations. ECJ and JamVM are known to support the generics release out of the box. And you should be able to run Eclipse 3.1 with it to develop programs that use the new 1.5 language and core library additions. classpath-generics is a work in progress and not as extensively tested as our regular releases. But please try it out if you want to help us test the new 1.5 support of the core libraries.

For this release we setup a Free Swing Test Application page
http://developer.classpath.org/mediation/FreeSwingTestApps
Please see that page for showcases of applications that work with this release and to help test other applications.

It is also the first release that has GNU Classpath promotion banners. http://developer.classpath.org/mediation/ClasspathBanners. Please feel free to add them to your project pages if your project is known to work with GNU Classpath or just to promote the project.

More details about the various changes can be found at http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/