People ask from time to time about the no-charge "Express" tools and building a JDK on 32-bit Microsoft® Windows®.
A bit of background: (as Kelly wrote [1]) when we were opening up JDK6 under the JRL/JDL [2], we looked at the free 2003 kit. We decided at the time that it did not include enough of the necessary pieces to be useful for JDK development. Unfortunately I don't recall the details.
Last week my manager gave me a surplus 3Ghz 1.5MByte P4 system (a capable build machine) and I resolved to repeat the experiment after clearing the disks and reinstalling from scratch. The Windows XP license came with the system, paid-for as part of the original purchase. I expect many people get their O/S the same way.
I wanted to see how far I could go on a JDK7 build while using only zero cost tools. After the O/S installation (see my next post), everything I used during setup came from the open Internet.
As I examine my notes, I plan to write a series of postings describing what I did.