Welcome to the inaugural site for the Ja.NET Open Source Software (OSS) project!  We are launching janetdev.org in support of all those interested in leveraging the time and resources they’ve invested in Java in the .NET world – and want to do so using open source software.
 
Our goal is for janetdev.org to become THE site for building a community of interest in Java development on .NET.  We hope that janetdev.org becomes the communities source for OSS projects that enable Java development on .NET, including development tools, libraries, and middleware.   We are striving to make this site your favorite spot to visit when looking for the latest information regarding Java based development for the .NET platform, whether that means downloading pre-built OSS Java-based libraries for .NET, or finding out about the latest Ja.NET OSS projects, such as Ja.NET SE (Standard Edition), our recently launched Java development and runtime kit  for .NET project.
 
Over time, we hope to see this web site expanded and used to host similar projects to Ja.NET SE (see separate Ja.NET SE announcement). We hope to build a strong following of developers who can help launch and build additional Java based .NET projects (e.g., Ja.NET ME  and Ja.NET EE)  which are needed for Java to become a “first class” development environment for .NET. 
 
So, bookmark janetdev.org now, and visit often! We are working hard to make this a valuable place to go to find the latest information for building applications in Java  for .NET.

The first drop of open source Ja.NET SE – the Java 1.5 JDK for .NET – is now available.  Ja.NET SE provides a development and runtime environment that enables Java based software to run on .NET in addition to a standard Java platform. Our goal is to provide all the tools needed to enable Java to become a first class development environment for .NET, in addition to the long list of platforms Java supports today.

We have been working hard to make Ja.NET SE intuitive to work with and as compatible as possible with a standard Java platform. To do this, our distribution has been based on work of other prominent OSS projects, including  Apache Harmony, a Java 1.5 platform project, and Eclipse, the Java development tools project.  In addition, we have also packaged Ja.NET SE as a typical Java development kit, including development tools (e.g., javac, java, etc.), class libraries(e.g., java.lang, java.io, etc.) and virtual machine runtimes (e.g. Harmony JVM and the Ja.NET VM Adapter) that support building and running Java based programs on both .NET and a JVM.

This first milestone includes Java development tools for both .NET and standard JVM environments. For example the Java compiler included with SE is capable of emitting both .NET CIL as well as JVM byte code. We are also including BAM (build assembly module), a tool for merging .NET assemblies emitted by the Java compiler into larger modules for deployments.  And of course, we are including Java 1.5 class libraries for both .NET and the standard Harmony JVM bundled in the distribution.  

This milestone is significant for us, as this is our first drop in which we have become fully self-hosted.  The compiler can compile itself and can compile all the Java 1.5 class libraries. In addition, the development tools are self-hosted in that they are able to run on the Ja.NET runtime (i.e., .NET) as well as the included Harmony JVM.

To learn more, check out our getting started section on www.janetdev.org. Documentation is available now, and the Ja.NET SE software is ready for download.  Give it a try and let us know what you think!.  Visit our User Forum to interact with other users, to report issues, resolve issues or ask for help.

The Open Source Ja.NET SE project is now officially under way. Ja.NET SE, a Java 1.5 JDK for .NET, enables Java to become a first class development environment for .NET. Ja.NET SE is derived from other OSS projects – namely Apache Harmony and the Eclipse project. Thanks to these prominent OSS projects, we have been able to significantly jump start the availability of a Java 1.5 JDK for .NET.
 
Take a look and tell us what you think. We are using SourceForge to manage the source code and support for the project. A buildable version of the source code has been uploaded to the SourceForge web site, so you can easily download and build it should you desire. And, of course, we have provided you with corresponding build instructions on this web site. 
 
Ja.NET SE is freely available via the Eclipse, V1.0 Public License.

We encourage participation from the development community. www.janetdev.org has forums for discussion for both contributors and users and we are well prepared to offer support should you need it. Our Developer Forum is set to handle your comments, suggestions, questions, and to facilitate interaction with all of the contributors to the project.
 
Ja.NET SE binaries are ready for you to download. And, support is available. So join the Ja.NET SE community today, and help build out Java development tools for .NET