Retrotranslator

What is Retrotranslator?
What Java 5 features are supported?
How to use Retrotranslator from a command line?
How to use Retrotranslator from Apache Ant or Maven?
How to use Retrotranslator from IntelliJ IDEA?
How to use Just-in-Time Retrotranslator?
What Java 5 classes and methods are supported?
How to write an extension for Retrotranslator?
What are the limitations?
Alternative tools
Contact
License

What is Retrotranslator?

Retrotranslator is a Java bytecode transformer that translates Java classes compiled with JDK 5.0 into classes that can be run on JVM 1.4. It is a free, open-source tool based on the ASM bytecode manipulation framework and concurrency utilities backported to Java 1.4.

What Java 5 features are supported?

Generics (generic types)
Annotations (metadata)
Reflection on generics and annotations
Typesafe enums (enumerated types)
Autoboxing/unboxing
Enhanced for loop (for-each loop)
Varargs (variable arguments)
Covariant return types
Formatted output
Static import
Concurrency utilities
Collections framework enhancements

How to use Retrotranslator from a command line?

Download and unzip the binary distribution file Retrotranslator-n.n.n-bin.zip, where n.n.n is the latest Retrotranslator release number.
Compile your classes with JDK 5.0 and put them into some directory, e.g. myclasses.
Go to the unzipped directory and execute:
java -jar retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar -srcdir myclasses
If you use Java 5 API put retrotranslator-runtime-n.n.n.jar and backport-util-concurrent-n.n.jar into the classpath of your application.
Run or debug the application as usual on J2SE 1.4.x, preferably 1.4.2.

The full command line syntax:
java -jar retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar <options>
or
java -cp retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar net.sf.retrotranslator.transformer.Retrotranslator <options>

Option	Description	Default
`-srcdir`	The directory with classes that should be translated (may be specified several times).	-
`-srcjar`	The directory with classes that should be translated (may be specified several times).	-
`-destdir`	The directory to place translated classes.	Location of sources
`-destjar`	The JAR file to place translated classes.	Location of sources
`-advanced`	Whether to use alternative implementations of Java 1.4 classes and methods for better Java 5 compatibility.	Off
`-verify`	Asks the translator to examine translated bytecode for references to classes, methods, or fields that cannot be found in the provided classpath.	Off
`-classpath`	The classpath for verification including `rt.jar`, `jce.jar`, `jsse.jar` (from JRE 1.4), `retrotranslator-runtime-n.n.n.jar`, and `backport-util-concurrent-n.n.jar`.	Current classpath
`-srcmask`	The wildcard pattern specifying files that should be translated (either bytecode or UTF-8 text), e.g. "`.class;.tld`". There are three special characters: "`*?;`".	*.class
`-embed`	Package name for a private copy of `retrotranslator-runtime-n.n.n.jar` and `backport-util-concurrent-n.n.jar` to be put into `-destdir` or `-destjar`. This makes your application independent of other versions of Retrotranslator present in the classpath.	-
`-backport`	Informs the translator about user-defined backport packages. Package names should be separated by semicolons.	-
`-target`	To make Java 6 classes compatible with Java 5 set this option to 1.5 and supply user-defined backport packages via the `backport` option.	1.4
`-lazy`	Asks the translator to only transform classes compiled with a `target` greater than the current one.	Off
`-stripsign`	Asks the translator to strip signature (generics) information.	Off
`-verbose`	Asks the translator for verbose output.	Off
`-retainapi`	Asks the translator to modify classes for JVM 1.4 compatibility but keep use of Java 5 API. References introduced by a compiler will also remain unchanged, like the use of `java.lang.StringBuilder` for string concatenation or the implicit `valueOf` method call for autoboxing.	Off
`-retainflags`	Asks the translator to keep Java 5 specific access modifiers.	Off

For example, if you have a Java 5 application myapplication5.jar you can use the following command to produce myapplication4.jar that will run on J2SE 1.4 and is independent of Retrotranslator, since required classes are added to the translated application with a different package name:

java -jar retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar -srcjar myapplication5.jar -destjar myapplication4.jar -embed com.mycompany.internal

How to use Retrotranslator from Apache Ant or Maven?

The distribution contains an integrated Apache Ant task net.sf.retrotranslator.transformer.RetrotranslatorTask. It has the following syntax:

Attribute	Description	Default
`srcdir`	The directory with classes that should be translated.	-
`srcjar`	The directory with classes that should be translated.	-
`destdir`	The directory to place translated classes.	Location of sources
`destjar`	The JAR file to place translated classes.	Location of sources
`advanced`	Whether to use alternative implementations of Java 1.4 classes and methods for better Java 5 compatibility.	Off
`verify`	Asks the translator to examine translated bytecode for references to classes, methods, or fields that cannot be found in the provided classpath.	Off
`classpath`	The classpath for the verification, including `rt.jar`, `jce.jar`, `jsse.jar` (from JRE 1.4), `retrotranslator-runtime-n.n.n.jar`, and `backport-util-concurrent-n.n.jar`.	Current classpath
`classpathref`	The classpath for the verification, given as a reference to a path defined elsewhere.	Current classpath
`srcmask`	The wildcard pattern specifying files that should be translated (either bytecode or UTF-8 text), e.g. "`.class;.tld`". There are three special characters: "`*?;`".	*.class
`embed`	Package name for a private copy of `retrotranslator-runtime-n.n.n.jar` and `backport-util-concurrent-n.n.jar` to be put into `-destdir` or `-destjar`. This makes your application independent of other versions of Retrotranslator present in the classpath.	-
`backport`	Informs the translator about user-defined backport packages. Package names should be separated by semicolons.	-
`target`	Set this option to 1.5 and supply user-defined backport packages via the `backport` option to make Java 6 classes compatible with Java 5.	1.4
`lazy`	Asks the translator to only transform classes compiled with a `target` greater than the current one.	Off
`stripsign`	Asks the translator to strip signature (generics) information.	Off
`verbose`	Asks the translator for verbose output.	Off
`retainapi`	Asks the translator to modify classes for JVM 1.4 compatibility but keep use of Java 5 API. References introduced by a compiler will also remain unchanged, like the use of `java.lang.StringBuilder` for string concatenation or the implicit `valueOf` method call for autoboxing.	Off
`retainflags`	Asks the translator to keep Java 5 specific access modifiers.	Off
`failonwarning`	Indicates whether the build will fail when there are verification warnings.	On

You may use nested fileset, jarfileset, and dirset elements to specify source files and classpath elements to specify classpath. For example:

    <path id="classpath">
        <fileset dir="lib" includes="**/*.jar"/>
    </path>
    <taskdef name="retrotranslator" classpathref="classpath"
             classname="net.sf.retrotranslator.transformer.RetrotranslatorTask" />
    <retrotranslator destdir="build/classes14" verify="true">
        <fileset dir="build/classes15" includes="**/*.class">
        <jarfileset dir="build/lib15" includes="**/*.jar">
        <classpath location="${java14_home}/jre/lib/rt.jar"/>
        <classpath refid="classpath"/>
    </retrotranslator>

For Maven there is a Retrotranslator plugin from the Mojo Project.

How to use Retrotranslator from IntelliJ IDEA?

There is a plugin to automatically translate and verify classes compiled by IntelliJ IDEA, so you can develop in Java 5 but run and debug on JRE 1.4.

How to use Just-in-Time Retrotranslator?

JIT Retrotranslator is able to translate at runtime Java classes loaded with any classloader. It works on J2SE 1.4 from most JVM vendors like Sun, IBM, BEA, and Apple, but does nothing on J2SE 5.0. However translation at runtime consumes additional memory and processing resources and it will not work if your classes make use of Java 5 API but were compiled with "-target 1.4".

If you want to run a JAR file with the JIT, execute:
java -cp retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar net.sf.retrotranslator.transformer.JITRetrotranslator <options> -jar <jarfile> [<args...>]
When the first option does not work or if you just want to run a class from your classpath, execute:
java -cp retrotranslator-transformer-n.n.n.jar:<classpath> net.sf.retrotranslator.transformer.JITRetrotranslator <options> <class> [<args...>]
Alternatively you may simply call JITRetrotranslator.run() from some JVM 1.4 compatible class before Java 5 classes are loaded.

JIT Retrotranslator can accept the advanced and backport options.

What Java 5 classes and methods are supported?

Package	Class	Methods and fields	Compatibility notes
`java.lang.annotation`	* (all classes)	* (all methods)
`java.lang.instrument`	* (all classes)	* (all methods)	Bytecode instrumentation is not implemented.
`java.util.concurrent, java.util.concurrent.atomic, java.util.concurrent.locks`	almost all classes¹	almost all methods	The `LockSupport` class may be unusable due to poor efficiency. The `Condition.awaitNanos(long)` method has little accuracy guarantees.
`java.io`	`Closeable²`	`*`
	`Flushable²`	`*`
	`PrintStream`	* (11 new methods and constructors)
	`PrintWriter`	* (11 new methods and constructors)	The `PrintWriter.format` and `PrintWriter.printf` methods always flush the output buffer.
	`Reader`	`read(CharBuffer)`
	`Writer`	`append(CharSequence), append(CharSequence, int, int), append(char)`
`java.lang`	`Appendable²`	*
	`Boolean`	`parseBoolean(String), compareTo(Boolean)`
	`Byte`	`valueOf(byte)`
	`Character`	`valueOf(char)`
	`Class`	* (21 new methods)	`Class.getMethod(String, Class...)` and `Class.getDeclaredMethod(String, Class...)` are intercepted to better support generics and covariant return types on several platforms³.
	`Deprecated`	*
	`Double`	`valueOf(double)`
	`Enum`	*
	`Float`	`valueOf(float)`
	`IllegalArgumentException`	`IllegalArgumentException(String, Throwable), IllegalArgumentException(Throwable)`
	`IllegalStateException`	`IllegalStateException(String, Throwable), IllegalStateException(Throwable)`
	`Integer`	`valueOf(int), signum(int)`
	`Iterable²`	*
	`Long`	`valueOf(long), signum(long)`
	`Package`	* (4 new methods)
	`Readable²`	*
	`Short`	`valueOf(short)`
	`String`	`contains(CharSequence), contentEquals(CharSequence), format(Locale, String, Object...), format(String, Object...), replace(CharSequence, CharSequence), isEmpty()⁴`
	`StringBuffer`	`StringBuffer(CharSequence), append(CharSequence), append(CharSequence, int, int), insert(int, CharSequence), insert(int, CharSequence, int, int)`
	`StringBuilder`	All methods supported in `StringBuffer`	`StringBuilder` is replaced with `StringBuffer`.
	`SuppressWarnings`	*
	`System`	`nanoTime()¹, clearProperty(String)`	The `System.nanoTime()` method precision may vary on different platforms.
	`Thread`	`getStackTrace(), getId()`	The `Thread.getStackTrace()` method returns non-empty stack trace only for the current thread. The `Thread.getId()` method does not reflect the order in which threads are created.
	`Thread.State`	*
	`ThreadLocal`	`remove()³`	`ThreadLocal` and `InheritableThreadLocal` are replaced by corresponding classes from the runtime library.³.
	`TypeNotPresentException`	*
`java.lang.ref`	`SoftReference`	*	`SoftReference(Object,ReferenceQueue)` supports `null` for the second parameter on all platforms³.
`java.lang.ref`	`WeakReference`	*	`WeakReference(Object,ReferenceQueue)` supports `null` for the second parameter on all platforms³.
`java.lang.reflect`	`AccessibleObject`	*
	`AnnotatedElement²`	*
	`Constructor`	* (11 new methods)
	`Field`	* (8 new methods)
	`GenericArrayType`	*
	`GenericDeclaration²`	*
	`GenericSignatureFormatError`	*
	`MalformedParameterizedTypeException`	*
	`Method`	* (14 new methods)
	`ParameterizedType`	*
	`Type²`	*
	`TypeVariable`	*
	`WildcardType`	*
`java.math`	`BigDecimal`	`BigDecimal(int), BigDecimal(long), ZERO, ONE, TEN, divideAndRemainder(BigDecimal), divideToIntegralValue(BigDecimal), pow(int), remainder(BigDecimal), toPlainString(), valueOf(double), valueOf(long)`	The `BigDecimal.setScale(int, int)` method supports negative scales³.
`java.net`	`URL`	`openConnection(Proxy)`, `toURI()`	The `Proxy` is ignored by the `openConnection(Proxy)` method.
	`Proxy`	*
	`ProxySelector`	*
`java.rmi.server`	`RemoteObjectInvocationHandler`	*
`java.text`	`DecimalFormat`	`isParseBigDecimal()³, setParseBigDecimal(boolean)³`	`BigDecimal` parsing and formatting precision is limited by `java.lang.Double` or `java.lang.Long` precision.
`java.util.nio`	`CharBuffer`	`append(CharSequence), append(CharSequence, int, int), append(char), read(CharBuffer)`
`java.util`	`AbstractQueue¹`	*
	`Arrays`	* (21 new methods)
	`Collections¹`	* (13 new methods) newSetFromMap(Map)⁴
	`EnumMap`	*
	`EnumSet`	*
	`Formatter`	*
	`LinkedList`	* (5 new methods)
	`PriorityQueue¹`	*
	`Queue^1,2`	*
	`UUID`	*
`java.util.regex`	`Matcher`	`quoteReplacement(String), toMatchResult()`
	`MatchResult²`	*
	`Pattern`	`quote(String)`

¹ Supported via the Backport of JSR 166.
² In most cases this type is being replaced with it's base type.
³ Supported only in advanced mode, i.e. when the advanced option is specified.
⁴ Introduced in Java 6, but available only for 1.4 target.

How to write an extension for Retrotranslator?

Since most backported classes are discovered by Retrotranslator at translation time, you may write an extension and simply put it into the Retrotranslator classpath to make it work. For example, all references to java.util.EnumSet are replaced with references to net.sf.retrotranslator.runtime.java.util.EnumSet_ (optional trailing underscore) if the latter can be found. But if you replace a whole class that exists in J2SE 1.4 you may encounter interoperability issues with other libraries. So, for example, support for Java 5 fields, methods, and constructors of java.math.BigDecimal is placed into net.sf.retrotranslator.runtime.java.math._BigDecimal (leading underscore):

For a static field there is a public static field with the same name and type.
For a static method there is a public static method with the same signature.
For an instance method there is a public static method with the same signature but with an additional first parameter representing the instance.
For a constructor there is a public static convertConstructorArguments method that accepts constructor's arguments an returns an argument for a Java 1.4 constuctor.

Another approach for constructor backporting is used by net.sf.retrotranslator.runtime.java.io._PrintStream. There is a public static createInstanceBuilder method that accepts constructor's arguments an returns an object with public argument1...argumentN methods and optional public void initialize method. All argumentX methods provide arguments for a Java 1.4 constuctor and should not have any parameters. The initialize method has a single parameter for the created instance and may be used for postprocessing.

However, if the backported methods require access to non-public methods or fields of the instance, they cannot be fully handled by Retrotranslator. While you can use reflection to access any data, translated code generally should not depend on security settings. For example, it is impossible to write an implementation for methods getSource() and setSource() of java.beans.PropertyEditorSupport that will work in any environment. Also this approach cannot be used to replace instance field references.

You can put your extensions into packages other than net.sf.retrotranslator.runtime. For example, specify the following at the command line to make Retrotranslator use com.mycompany.internal.java.lang._String and to rewrite all references to com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.* with org.apache.xerces.*:
-backport com.mycompany.internal;com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal:org.apache.xerces

If you have written an extension that does not contain copyrighted code, you may send a patch under the Retrotranslator license.

What are the limitations?

Basically, only classes, methods, and fields listed above should work, and other features, like formatted input, are not supported. Known issues:

Reflection-based tools may be unable to discover additional classes and methods introduced in Java 5 when running on JRE 1.4.
Some applications enable all features only if they detect Java 5, so you may need to override system properties:
java -Djava.version=1.5.0 -Djava.specification.version=1.5 -Djava.class.version=49.0 ...
Translated code running on JRE 5.0 may be incompatible with other Java 5 code when Java 5 API is used.
Reflection on generics and metadata may return incomplete information for dynamically generated classes.
Constants inlined by a compiler and access modifiers are ignored during the verification.
Inherited methods introduced in Java 5 may not work, however upcasting may help in some cases:
((Writer) new FileWriter("file.tmp")).append("Hello").close();
Serialized objects produced by translated code may be incompatible with JRE 5.0.

Alternative tools

Retroweaver - a Java bytecode weaver that enables you to take advantage of the new 1.5 language features in your source code, while still retaining compatibility with 1.4 virtual machines.
Declawer - a customized Java compiler which reduces 1.5 Generics to equivalent 1.4 syntax.

Contact

License

    Retrotranslator: a Java bytecode transformer that translates Java classes
    compiled with JDK 5.0 into classes that can be run on JVM 1.4.

    Copyright (c) 2005 - 2007 Taras Puchko
    All rights reserved.

    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
    modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
    are met:
    1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
       documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    3. Neither the name of the copyright holders nor the names of its
       contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
       this software without specific prior written permission.

    THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
    AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
    IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
    ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
    LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
    CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
    SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
    INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
    CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
    ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF
    THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Retrotranslator

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