Native Image Committer and Community Meeting 2026-05-28

[wirthi]

List of all past and upcoming meetings: #3933

The meeting will be at our regular time of 17:00 CET: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20260528T08&p1=224

The meeting after this one is planned for June 25th, 2026. The meeting will typically be on the last Thursday of each month.

PRs listed below were closed between April 29th and May 27th (roughly).

New and Noteworthy

Native Image Layers and Analysis improvements

• [GR-53498] Enable Native Image Layers on AArch64 #13562
  (PR description) Enables Native Image layered-image support on AArch64 by adding layered method-reference handling for extension layers.
  (external contribution) Thank you to ember arlynx for the original contribution.
• [GR-75272] Optimize vtable entry comparisons with RelativeCodePointers. #13448
  (summarized change) Optimizes vtable entry comparisons with relative method references and updates Native Image backend support for relative code pointers.
• [GR-75083] Decouple layer snapshot internals from Cap'n Proto and make it modular with an interface #13459
  (PR description) Decouples layer snapshot persistence from Cap'n Proto behind a reusable modular interface.
• [GR-75441] Image layer snapshot refactoring #13527
  (PR description) Refactors the layer snapshot loader and writer into smaller targeted classes.
• [GR-64190] Add specialized Pair state to concurrent light hash collections #13555
• [GR-75374] Infer system modules required by image module path. #13541
• [GR-73741] Fix pattern reachable problem. #13463

Project Crema

• [GR-74184] [GR-74501] Crema: enable ristretto in jck. #13456
  (summarized change) Enables Ristretto in JCK execution and extends the Crema interpreter/runtime-compilation path.
• [GR-27609] Improve Crema java.xml runtime loading #13539
  (summarized change) Improves runtime loading of Java XML support for Crema, including XML metadata and libjvm integration.
• [GR-75025] [GR-74006] Fix Crema sealed class validation and metadata #13512
  (summarized change) Fixes Crema sealed-class validation and metadata handling for runtime-loaded types.
• [GR-73972] [GR-71873] Harden Crema platform thread stack sizing #13620
  (summarized change) Hardens Crema platform-thread stack sizing and main-runner entry-point handling.
• [GR-59682] Support assertions for runtime-loaded classes #13584
• [GR-75795] Ensure configured downcalls can be called through crema. #13577
• [GR-74960] Quicken Crema field access bytecodes #13575
• [GR-74005] Preserve Crema monitor exit exceptions #13519
• [GR-75414] Encode runtime FieldLoadIfZero constants. #13529

Project Terminus: Towards the "Hello, Espresso World!" #12236

• [GR-71226] [GR-75039] [GR-75091] Allow class initialization in standalone analysis #13625
  (PR description) Allow build-time class initialization, heap snapshotting and heap verification in the standalone analysis for both host and Espresso VMAccess implementations.
• [GR-75953] Move FastThreadLocal APIs to guest staging #13634
• [GR-76004] Move OS thread surface to guest staging #13635
  (PR descriptions) Code migrations for "Hello, Espresso World!", more will come soon.

Streamline reachability metadata

• [GR-73717] Condition metadata tracing on application stack frames #13433
  (PR description) Adds application-stack-frame based conditions to runtime metadata tracing, allowing iterative collection of narrower reflection, JNI, serialization, resource, and resource-bundle metadata.

Usability

• [GR-74762] [GR-74969] [GR-73988] Add Java option parser for runtime launches and implement some more Java options #13473
  (summarized change) Adds a unified runtime parser for standard Java launcher options — -D, module flags, --enable-preview, and -Xbootclasspath/a: — across Native Image entry points; enables Crema's libjvm to behave like a JVM under JNI_CreateJavaVM.
• [GR-75011] JNI global handles. #13457
  (summarized change) Adds JNI global handle support and updates the Native Image JNI documentation.
• [GR-27609] Avoid runtime XML catalog initialization #13546
  (summarized change) Avoids runtime XML catalog initialization and keeps runtime XML loading behavior more compatible.
• [GR-71699] Fix for MethodHandles types. #13534
• [GR-75750] Fix method handle casts and constructor invokespecial receiver validation #13595
• [GR-75840] Fix attach thread crash with j.i.l.ClassLoaders run-time-initialized #13603
• [GR-75903] Set boot native library path at run time #13610
• [GR-75755] Initialize JDK Password ConsoleHolder at run time. #13567

Monitoring / Tooling / Debugging

• [GR-74889] [GR-39501] Support Native Image JFR and heap dumps on Windows #13602
  (PR description) Adds Native Image JFR and heap dump support on Windows, including platform file-operation support and user documentation.
  (external contribution) Thank you to Robert Toyonaga from Red Hat for the original contribution.

Garbage Collector / Memory Management

• [GR-75448] Use chunk size for unaligned chunks accounting instead of object size, same as aligned chunks. #13556
  (summarized change) Uses chunk size for unaligned heap chunk accounting, matching aligned chunk accounting.
• [GR-75551] Eliminate virtual calls to GC policy. #13554

Other & fixes

• [GR-74988] Base-relative code pointers and PIE by default. #13468
  (PR description) Enables PIE and relative code pointers by default, reducing relocations and improving image size and process memory sharing.
• [GR-75369] MemoryMaskingAndFencing Spectre mitigation hardening #13578
  (summarized change) Hardens AMD64 memory masking and fencing support for Spectre mitigation.
• [GR-74840] Optimize code info encoding #13514
  Optimizes image code-info encoding and related runtime metadata structures:

Regular mx helloworld: 
  - Total image: −0.85%
  - Executable: −0.90%

mx helloworld -H:Preserve=module=java.base:
  - Total image: −0.54%
  - Executable: −0.56%
  - Code-metadata byte[] in image heap: −5.73%

• [GR-75266] Fix Win64 direct upcalls to bound instance methods. #13445
• [GR-75073] Refactor markCGlobalDataSymbolReferenceRelocation #13449
• [GR-74447] Add AArch64 indirect CGlobalData loads #13464
• [GR-74964] Resolve VarHandle descriptors by field type #13487
• [GR-75421] Cleanup VMOperationControl. #13496
• [GR-75519] Handle SVM object switch constants. #13551
• [GR-75244] Propagate uncaught exceptions that happen in virtual threads. #13553
• [GR-75279] Make bytecode handler backend Truffle agnostic. #13563
• [GR-74766] Relax AMD64 hosted relocation addend assert #13568
• [GR-75332] VerifyIsolateThread in CEntryPointSnippets. #13573
• [GR-75464] Ensure foreign downcall stubs during field transformation. #13588

Truffle and language-related

• [GR-74916] Improved language permissions tool with better lambda method context sensitivity. #13572
• [GR-75852] Use bytecode handler layouts only for native image. #13601

Graal compiler / JIT-related

• [GR-23177] Port CRC stubs #13439
• [GR-44610] Port BigInteger shiftLeftImplWorker / shiftRightImplWorker stubs #13488
• [GR-75340] Mark XMM temps for AMD64 CPU feature region vzeroupper #13489

Other repository / infrastructure

• [GR-75178] Make truffle-api dependency on nativebridge optional. #13497
• [GR-59303] Delegate suite release metadata to the sdk suite. #13542
• [GR-75550] Provide some guidance to agents on platform-specific testing. #13579

Questions

GraalVM Deep Dives: Testing 1000 libraries with Native Image to Collect the Metadata