docs/dexopt.html - platform/dalvik - Git at Google

 <html>
 <head>
     <title>Dalvik Optimization and Verification</title>
 </head>

 <body>
 <h1>Dalvik Optimization and Verification With <i>dexopt</i></h1>

 <p>
 The Dalvik virtual machine was designed specifically for the Android
 mobile platform.  The target systems have little RAM, store data on slow
 internal flash memory, and generally have the performance characteristics
 of decade-old desktop systems.  They also run Linux, which provides
 virtual memory, processes and threads, and UID-based security mechanisms.
 <p>
 The features and limitations caused us to focus on certain goals:

 <ul>
     <li>Class data, notably bytecode, must be shared between multiple
     processes to minimize total system memory usage.
     <li>The overhead in launching a new app must be minimized to keep
     the device responsive.
     <li>Storing class data in individual files results in a lot of
     redundancy, especially with respect to strings.  To conserve disk
     space we need to factor this out.
     <li>Parsing class data fields adds unnecessary overhead during
     class loading.  Accessing data values (e.g. integers and strings)
     directly as C types is better.
     <li>Bytecode verification is necessary, but slow, so we want to verify
     as much as possible outside app execution.
     <li>Bytecode optimization (quickened instructions, method pruning) is
     important for speed and battery life.
     <li>For security reasons, processes may not edit shared code.
 </ul>

 <p>
 The typical VM implementation uncompresses individual classes from a
 compressed archive and stores them on the heap.  This implies a separate
 copy of each class in every process, and slows application startup because
 the code must be uncompressed (or at least read off disk in many small
 pieces).  On the other hand, having the bytecode on the local heap makes
 it easy to rewrite instructions on first use, facilitating a number of
 different optimizations.
 <p>
 The goals led us to make some fundamental decisions:

 <ul>
     <li>Multiple classes are aggregated into a single "DEX" file.
     <li>DEX files are mapped read-only and shared between processes.
     <li>Byte ordering and word alignment are adjusted to suit the local
     system.
     <li>Bytecode verification is mandatory for all classes, but we want
     to "pre-verify" whatever we can.
     <li>Optimizations that require rewriting bytecode must be done ahead
     of time.
 </ul>

 <p>
 The consequences of these decisions are explained in the following sections.


 <h2>VM Operation</h2>

 <p>
 Application code is delivered to the system in a <code>.jar</code>
 or <code>.apk</code> file.  These are really just <code>.zip</code>
 archives with some meta-data files added.  The Dalvik DEX data file
 is always called <code>classes.dex</code>.
 <p>
 The bytecode cannot be memory-mapped and executed directly from the zip
 file, because the data is compressed and the start of the file is not
 guaranteed to be word-aligned.  These problems could be addressed by
 storing <code>classes.dex</code> without compression and padding out the zip
 file, but that would increase the size of the package sent across the
 data network.
 <p>
 We need to extract <code>classes.dex</code> from the zip archive before
 we can use it.  While we have the file available, we might as well perform
 some of the other actions (realignment, optimization, verification) described
 earlier.  This raises a new question however: who is responsible for doing
 this, and where do we keep the output?

 <h3>Preparation</h3>

 <p>
 There are at least three different ways to create a "prepared" DEX file,
 sometimes known as "ODEX" (for Optimized DEX):
 <ol>
     <li>The VM does it "just in time".  The output goes into a special
     <code>dalvik-cache</code> directory.  This works on the desktop and
     engineering-only device builds where the permissions on the
     <code>dalvik-cache</code> directory are not restricted.  On production
     devices, this is not allowed.
     <li>The system installer does it when an application is first added.
     It has the privileges required to write to <code>dalvik-cache</code>.
     <li>The build system does it ahead of time.  The relevant <code>jar</code>
     / <code>apk</code> files are present, but the <code>classes.dex</code>
     is stripped out.  The optimized DEX is stored next to the original
     zip archive, not in <code>dalvik-cache</code>, and is part of the
     system image.
 </ol>
 <p>
 The <code>dalvik-cache</code> directory is more accurately
 <code>$ANDROID_DATA/data/dalvik-cache</code>.  The files inside it have
 names derived from the full path of the source DEX.  On the device the
 directory is owned by <code>system</code> / <code>system</code>
 and has 0771 permissions, and the optimized DEX files stored there are
 owned by <code>system</code> and the
 application's group, with 0644 permissions.  DRM-locked applications will
 use 640 permissions to prevent other user applications from examining them.
 The bottom line is that you can read your own DEX file and those of most
 other applications, but you cannot create, modify, or remove them.
 <p>
 Preparation of the DEX file for the "just in time" and "system installer"
 approaches proceeds in three steps:
 <p>
 First, the dalvik-cache file is created.  This must be done in a process
 with appropriate privileges, so for the "system installer" case this is
 done within <code>installd</code>, which runs as root.
 <p>
 Second, the <code>classes.dex</code> entry is extracted from the the zip
 archive.  A small amount of space is left at the start of the file for
 the ODEX header.
 <p>
 Third, the file is memory-mapped for easy access and tweaked for use on
 the current system.  This includes byte-swapping and structure realigning,
 but no meaningful changes to the DEX file.  We also do some basic
 structure checks, such as ensuring that file offsets and data indices
 fall within valid ranges.
 <p>
 The build system uses a hairy process that involves starting the
 emulator, forcing just-in-time optimization of all relevant DEX files,
 and then extracting the results from <code>dalvik-cache</code>.  The
 reasons for doing this, rather than using a tool that runs on the desktop,
 will become more apparent when the optimizations are explained.
 <p>
 Once the code is byte-swapped and aligned, we're ready to go.  We append
 some pre-computed data, fill in the ODEX header at the start of the file,
 and start executing.  (The header is filled in last, so that we don't
 try to use a partial file.)  If we're interested in verification and
 optimization, however, we need to insert a step after the initial prep.

 <h3>dexopt</h3>

 <p>
 We want to verify and optimize all of the classes in the DEX file.  The
 easiest and safest way to do this is to load all of the classes into
 the VM and run through them.  Anything that fails to load is simply not
 verified or optimized.  Unfortunately, this can cause allocation of some
 resources that are difficult to release (e.g. loading of native shared
 libraries), so we don't want to do it in the same virtual machine that
 we're running applications in.
 <p>
 The solution is to invoke a program called <code>dexopt</code>, which
 is really just a back door into the VM.  It performs an abbreviated VM
 initialization, loads zero or more DEX files from the bootstrap class
 path, and then sets about verifying and optimizing whatever it can from
 the target DEX.  On completion, the process exits, freeing all resources.
 <p>
 It is possible for multiple VMs to want the same DEX file at the same
 time.  File locking is used to ensure that dexopt is only run once.


 <h2>Verification</h2>

 <p>
 The bytecode verification process involves scanning through the instructions
 in every method in every class in a DEX file.  The goal is to identify
 illegal instruction sequences so that we don't have to check for them at
 run time.  Many of the computations involved are also necessary for "exact"
 garbage collection.  See
 <a href="verifier.html">Dalvik Bytecode Verifier Notes</a> for more
 information.
 <p>
 For performance reasons, the optimizer (described in the next section)
 assumes that the verifier has run successfully, and makes some potentially
 unsafe assumptions.  By default, Dalvik insists upon verifying all classes,
 and only optimizes classes that have been verified.  If you want to
 disable the verifier, you can use command-line flags to do so.  See also
 <a href="embedded-vm-control.html"> Controlling the Embedded VM</a>
 for instructions on controlling these
 features within the Android application framework.
 <p>
 Reporting of verification failures is a tricky issue.  For example,
 calling a package-scope method on a class in a different package is
 illegal and will be caught by the verifier.  We don't necessarily want
 to report it during verification though -- we actually want to throw
 an exception when the method call is attempted.  Checking the access
 flags on every method call is expensive though.  The
 <a href="verifier.html">Dalvik Bytecode Verifier Notes</a> document
 addresses this issue.
 <p>
 Classes that have been verified successfully have a flag set in the ODEX.
 They will not be re-verified when loaded.  The Linux access permissions
 are expected to prevent tampering; if you can get around those, installing
 faulty bytecode is far from the easiest line of attack.  The ODEX file has
 a 32-bit checksum, but that's chiefly present as a quick check for
 corrupted data.


 <h2>Optimization</h2>

 <p>
 Virtual machine interpreters typically perform certain optimizations the
 first time a piece of code is used.  Constant pool references are replaced
 with pointers to internal data structures, operations that always succeed
 or always work a certain way are replaced with simpler forms.  Some of
 these require information only available at runtime, others can be inferred
 statically when certain assumptions are made.
 <p>
 The Dalvik optimizer does the following:
 <ul>
     <li>For virtual method calls, replace the method index with a
     vtable index.
     <li>For instance field get/put, replace the field index with
     a byte offset.  Also, merge the boolean / byte / char / short
     variants into a single 32-bit form (less code in the interpreter
     means more room in the CPU I-cache).
     <li>Replace a handful of high-volume calls, like String.length(),
     with "inline" replacements.  This skips the usual method call
     overhead, directly switching from the interpreter to a native
     implementation.
     <li>Prune empty methods.  The simplest example is
     <code>Object.&lt;init&gt;</code>, which does nothing, but must be
     called whenever any object is allocated.  The instruction is
     replaced with a new version that acts as a no-op unless a debugger
     is attached.
     <li>Append pre-computed data.  For example, the VM wants to have a
     hash table for lookups on class name.  Instead of computing this
     when the DEX file is loaded, we can compute it now, saving heap
     space and computation time in every VM where the DEX is loaded.
 </ul>

 <p>
 All of the instruction modifications involve replacing the opcode with
 one not defined by the Dalvik specification.  This allows us to freely
 mix optimized and unoptimized instructions.  The set of optimized
 instructions, and their exact representation, is tied closely to the VM
 version.
 <p>
 Most of the optimizations are obvious "wins".  The use of raw indices
 and offsets not only allows us to execute more quickly, we can also
 skip the initial symbolic resolution.  Pre-computation eats up
 disk space, and so must be done in moderation.
 <p>
 There are a couple of potential sources of trouble with these
 optimizations.  First, vtable indices and byte offsets are subject to
 change if the VM is updated.  Second, if a superclass is in a different
 DEX, and that other DEX is updated, we need to ensure that our optimized
 indices and offsets are updated as well.  A similar but more subtle
 problem emerges when user-defined class loaders are employed: the class
 we actually call may not be the one we expected to call.
 <p>These problems are addressed with dependency lists and some limitations
 on what can be optimized.


 <h2>Dependencies and Limitations</h2>

 <p>
 The optimized DEX file includes a list of dependencies on other DEX files,
 plus the CRC-32 and modification date from the originating
 <code>classes.dex</code> zip file entry.  The dependency list includes the
 full path to the <code>dalvik-cache</code> file, and the file's SHA-1
 signature.  The timestamps of files on the device are unreliable and
 not used.  The dependency area also includes the VM version number.
 <p>
 An optimized DEX is dependent upon all of the DEX files in the bootstrap
 class path.  DEX files that are part of the bootstrap class path depend
 upon the DEX files that appeared earlier.  To ensure that nothing outside
 the dependent DEX files is available, <code>dexopt</code> only loads the
 bootstrap classes.  References to classes in other DEX files fail, which
 causes class loading and/or verification to fail, and classes with
 external dependencies are simply not optimized.
 <p>
 This means that splitting code out into many separate DEX files has a
 disadvantage: virtual method calls and instance field lookups between
 non-boot DEX files can't be optimized.  Because verification is pass/fail
 with class granularity, no method in a class that has any reliance on
 classes in external DEX files can be optimized.  This may be a bit
 heavy-handed, but it's the only way to guarantee that nothing breaks
 when individual pieces are updated.
 <p>
 Another negative consequence: any change to a bootstrap DEX will result
 in rejection of all optimized DEX files.  This makes it hard to keep
 system updates small.
 <p>
 Despite our caution, there is still a possibility that a class in a DEX
 file loaded by a user-defined class loader could ask for a bootstrap class
 (say, String) and be given a different class with the same name.  If a
 class in the DEX file being processed has the same name as a class in the
 bootstrap DEX files, the class will be flagged as ambiguous and references
 to it will not be resolved during verification / optimization.  The class
 linking code in the VM does additional checks to plug another hole;
 see the verbose description in the VM sources for details (vm/oo/Class.c).
 <p>
 If one of the dependencies is updated, we need to re-verify and
 re-optimize the DEX file.  If we can do a just-in-time <code>dexopt</code>
 invocation, this is easy.  If we have to rely on the installer daemon, or
 the DEX was shipped only in ODEX, then the VM has to reject the DEX.
 <p>
 The output of <code>dexopt</code> is byte-swapped and struct-aligned
 for the host, and contains indices and offsets that are highly VM-specific
 (both version-wise and platform-wise).  For this reason it's tricky to
 write a version of <code>dexopt</code> that runs on the desktop but
 generates output suitable for a particular device.  The safest way to
 invoke it is on the target device, or on an emulator for that device.


 <h2>Generated DEX</h2>

 <p>
 Some languages and frameworks rely on the ability to generate bytecode
 and execute it.  The rather heavy <code>dexopt</code> verification and
 optimization model doesn't work well with that.
 <p>
 We intend to support this in a future release, but the exact method is
 to be determined.  We may allow individual classes to be added or whole
 DEX files; may allow Java bytecode or Dalvik bytecode in instructions;
 may perform the usual set of optimizations, or use a separate interpreter
 that performs on-first-use optimizations directly on the bytecode (which
 won't be mapped read-only, since it's locally defined).

 <address>Copyright &copy; 2008 The Android Open Source Project</address>

 </body>
 </html>
	<html>
	<head>
	<title>Dalvik Optimization and Verification</title>
	</head>

	<body>
	<h1>Dalvik Optimization and Verification With <i>dexopt</i></h1>

	<p>
	The Dalvik virtual machine was designed specifically for the Android
	mobile platform. The target systems have little RAM, store data on slow
	internal flash memory, and generally have the performance characteristics
	of decade-old desktop systems. They also run Linux, which provides
	virtual memory, processes and threads, and UID-based security mechanisms.
	<p>
	The features and limitations caused us to focus on certain goals:

	<ul>
	<li>Class data, notably bytecode, must be shared between multiple
	processes to minimize total system memory usage.
	<li>The overhead in launching a new app must be minimized to keep
	the device responsive.
	<li>Storing class data in individual files results in a lot of
	redundancy, especially with respect to strings. To conserve disk
	space we need to factor this out.
	<li>Parsing class data fields adds unnecessary overhead during
	class loading. Accessing data values (e.g. integers and strings)
	directly as C types is better.
	<li>Bytecode verification is necessary, but slow, so we want to verify
	as much as possible outside app execution.
	<li>Bytecode optimization (quickened instructions, method pruning) is
	important for speed and battery life.
	<li>For security reasons, processes may not edit shared code.
	</ul>

	<p>
	The typical VM implementation uncompresses individual classes from a
	compressed archive and stores them on the heap. This implies a separate
	copy of each class in every process, and slows application startup because
	the code must be uncompressed (or at least read off disk in many small
	pieces). On the other hand, having the bytecode on the local heap makes
	it easy to rewrite instructions on first use, facilitating a number of
	different optimizations.
	<p>
	The goals led us to make some fundamental decisions:

	<ul>
	<li>Multiple classes are aggregated into a single "DEX" file.
	<li>DEX files are mapped read-only and shared between processes.
	<li>Byte ordering and word alignment are adjusted to suit the local
	system.
	<li>Bytecode verification is mandatory for all classes, but we want
	to "pre-verify" whatever we can.
	<li>Optimizations that require rewriting bytecode must be done ahead
	of time.
	</ul>

	<p>
	The consequences of these decisions are explained in the following sections.


	<h2>VM Operation</h2>

	<p>
	Application code is delivered to the system in a <code>.jar</code>
	or <code>.apk</code> file. These are really just <code>.zip</code>
	archives with some meta-data files added. The Dalvik DEX data file
	is always called <code>classes.dex</code>.
	<p>
	The bytecode cannot be memory-mapped and executed directly from the zip
	file, because the data is compressed and the start of the file is not
	guaranteed to be word-aligned. These problems could be addressed by
	storing <code>classes.dex</code> without compression and padding out the zip
	file, but that would increase the size of the package sent across the
	data network.
	<p>
	We need to extract <code>classes.dex</code> from the zip archive before
	we can use it. While we have the file available, we might as well perform
	some of the other actions (realignment, optimization, verification) described
	earlier. This raises a new question however: who is responsible for doing
	this, and where do we keep the output?

	<h3>Preparation</h3>

	<p>
	There are at least three different ways to create a "prepared" DEX file,
	sometimes known as "ODEX" (for Optimized DEX):
	<ol>
	<li>The VM does it "just in time". The output goes into a special
	<code>dalvik-cache</code> directory. This works on the desktop and
	engineering-only device builds where the permissions on the
	<code>dalvik-cache</code> directory are not restricted. On production
	devices, this is not allowed.
	<li>The system installer does it when an application is first added.
	It has the privileges required to write to <code>dalvik-cache</code>.
	<li>The build system does it ahead of time. The relevant <code>jar</code>
	/ <code>apk</code> files are present, but the <code>classes.dex</code>
	is stripped out. The optimized DEX is stored next to the original
	zip archive, not in <code>dalvik-cache</code>, and is part of the
	system image.
	</ol>
	<p>
	The <code>dalvik-cache</code> directory is more accurately
	<code>$ANDROID_DATA/data/dalvik-cache</code>. The files inside it have
	names derived from the full path of the source DEX. On the device the
	directory is owned by <code>system</code> / <code>system</code>
	and has 0771 permissions, and the optimized DEX files stored there are
	owned by <code>system</code> and the
	application's group, with 0644 permissions. DRM-locked applications will
	use 640 permissions to prevent other user applications from examining them.
	The bottom line is that you can read your own DEX file and those of most
	other applications, but you cannot create, modify, or remove them.
	<p>
	Preparation of the DEX file for the "just in time" and "system installer"
	approaches proceeds in three steps:
	<p>
	First, the dalvik-cache file is created. This must be done in a process
	with appropriate privileges, so for the "system installer" case this is
	done within <code>installd</code>, which runs as root.
	<p>
	Second, the <code>classes.dex</code> entry is extracted from the the zip
	archive. A small amount of space is left at the start of the file for
	the ODEX header.
	<p>
	Third, the file is memory-mapped for easy access and tweaked for use on
	the current system. This includes byte-swapping and structure realigning,
	but no meaningful changes to the DEX file. We also do some basic
	structure checks, such as ensuring that file offsets and data indices
	fall within valid ranges.
	<p>
	The build system uses a hairy process that involves starting the
	emulator, forcing just-in-time optimization of all relevant DEX files,
	and then extracting the results from <code>dalvik-cache</code>. The
	reasons for doing this, rather than using a tool that runs on the desktop,
	will become more apparent when the optimizations are explained.
	<p>
	Once the code is byte-swapped and aligned, we're ready to go. We append
	some pre-computed data, fill in the ODEX header at the start of the file,
	and start executing. (The header is filled in last, so that we don't
	try to use a partial file.) If we're interested in verification and
	optimization, however, we need to insert a step after the initial prep.

	<h3>dexopt</h3>

	<p>
	We want to verify and optimize all of the classes in the DEX file. The
	easiest and safest way to do this is to load all of the classes into
	the VM and run through them. Anything that fails to load is simply not
	verified or optimized. Unfortunately, this can cause allocation of some
	resources that are difficult to release (e.g. loading of native shared
	libraries), so we don't want to do it in the same virtual machine that
	we're running applications in.
	<p>
	The solution is to invoke a program called <code>dexopt</code>, which
	is really just a back door into the VM. It performs an abbreviated VM
	initialization, loads zero or more DEX files from the bootstrap class
	path, and then sets about verifying and optimizing whatever it can from
	the target DEX. On completion, the process exits, freeing all resources.
	<p>
	It is possible for multiple VMs to want the same DEX file at the same
	time. File locking is used to ensure that dexopt is only run once.


	<h2>Verification</h2>

	<p>
	The bytecode verification process involves scanning through the instructions
	in every method in every class in a DEX file. The goal is to identify
	illegal instruction sequences so that we don't have to check for them at
	run time. Many of the computations involved are also necessary for "exact"
	garbage collection. See
	<a href="verifier.html">Dalvik Bytecode Verifier Notes</a> for more
	information.
	<p>
	For performance reasons, the optimizer (described in the next section)
	assumes that the verifier has run successfully, and makes some potentially
	unsafe assumptions. By default, Dalvik insists upon verifying all classes,
	and only optimizes classes that have been verified. If you want to
	disable the verifier, you can use command-line flags to do so. See also
	<a href="embedded-vm-control.html"> Controlling the Embedded VM</a>
	for instructions on controlling these
	features within the Android application framework.
	<p>
	Reporting of verification failures is a tricky issue. For example,
	calling a package-scope method on a class in a different package is
	illegal and will be caught by the verifier. We don't necessarily want
	to report it during verification though -- we actually want to throw
	an exception when the method call is attempted. Checking the access
	flags on every method call is expensive though. The
	<a href="verifier.html">Dalvik Bytecode Verifier Notes</a> document
	addresses this issue.
	<p>
	Classes that have been verified successfully have a flag set in the ODEX.
	They will not be re-verified when loaded. The Linux access permissions
	are expected to prevent tampering; if you can get around those, installing
	faulty bytecode is far from the easiest line of attack. The ODEX file has
	a 32-bit checksum, but that's chiefly present as a quick check for
	corrupted data.


	<h2>Optimization</h2>

	<p>
	Virtual machine interpreters typically perform certain optimizations the
	first time a piece of code is used. Constant pool references are replaced
	with pointers to internal data structures, operations that always succeed
	or always work a certain way are replaced with simpler forms. Some of
	these require information only available at runtime, others can be inferred
	statically when certain assumptions are made.
	<p>
	The Dalvik optimizer does the following:
	<ul>
	<li>For virtual method calls, replace the method index with a
	vtable index.
	<li>For instance field get/put, replace the field index with
	a byte offset. Also, merge the boolean / byte / char / short
	variants into a single 32-bit form (less code in the interpreter
	means more room in the CPU I-cache).
	<li>Replace a handful of high-volume calls, like String.length(),
	with "inline" replacements. This skips the usual method call
	overhead, directly switching from the interpreter to a native
	implementation.
	<li>Prune empty methods. The simplest example is
	<code>Object.<init></code>, which does nothing, but must be
	called whenever any object is allocated. The instruction is
	replaced with a new version that acts as a no-op unless a debugger
	is attached.
	<li>Append pre-computed data. For example, the VM wants to have a
	hash table for lookups on class name. Instead of computing this
	when the DEX file is loaded, we can compute it now, saving heap
	space and computation time in every VM where the DEX is loaded.
	</ul>

	<p>
	All of the instruction modifications involve replacing the opcode with
	one not defined by the Dalvik specification. This allows us to freely
	mix optimized and unoptimized instructions. The set of optimized
	instructions, and their exact representation, is tied closely to the VM
	version.
	<p>
	Most of the optimizations are obvious "wins". The use of raw indices
	and offsets not only allows us to execute more quickly, we can also
	skip the initial symbolic resolution. Pre-computation eats up
	disk space, and so must be done in moderation.
	<p>
	There are a couple of potential sources of trouble with these
	optimizations. First, vtable indices and byte offsets are subject to
	change if the VM is updated. Second, if a superclass is in a different
	DEX, and that other DEX is updated, we need to ensure that our optimized
	indices and offsets are updated as well. A similar but more subtle
	problem emerges when user-defined class loaders are employed: the class
	we actually call may not be the one we expected to call.
	<p>These problems are addressed with dependency lists and some limitations
	on what can be optimized.


	<h2>Dependencies and Limitations</h2>

	<p>
	The optimized DEX file includes a list of dependencies on other DEX files,
	plus the CRC-32 and modification date from the originating
	<code>classes.dex</code> zip file entry. The dependency list includes the
	full path to the <code>dalvik-cache</code> file, and the file's SHA-1
	signature. The timestamps of files on the device are unreliable and
	not used. The dependency area also includes the VM version number.
	<p>
	An optimized DEX is dependent upon all of the DEX files in the bootstrap
	class path. DEX files that are part of the bootstrap class path depend
	upon the DEX files that appeared earlier. To ensure that nothing outside
	the dependent DEX files is available, <code>dexopt</code> only loads the
	bootstrap classes. References to classes in other DEX files fail, which
	causes class loading and/or verification to fail, and classes with
	external dependencies are simply not optimized.
	<p>
	This means that splitting code out into many separate DEX files has a
	disadvantage: virtual method calls and instance field lookups between
	non-boot DEX files can't be optimized. Because verification is pass/fail
	with class granularity, no method in a class that has any reliance on
	classes in external DEX files can be optimized. This may be a bit
	heavy-handed, but it's the only way to guarantee that nothing breaks
	when individual pieces are updated.
	<p>
	Another negative consequence: any change to a bootstrap DEX will result
	in rejection of all optimized DEX files. This makes it hard to keep
	system updates small.
	<p>
	Despite our caution, there is still a possibility that a class in a DEX
	file loaded by a user-defined class loader could ask for a bootstrap class
	(say, String) and be given a different class with the same name. If a
	class in the DEX file being processed has the same name as a class in the
	bootstrap DEX files, the class will be flagged as ambiguous and references
	to it will not be resolved during verification / optimization. The class
	linking code in the VM does additional checks to plug another hole;
	see the verbose description in the VM sources for details (vm/oo/Class.c).
	<p>
	If one of the dependencies is updated, we need to re-verify and
	re-optimize the DEX file. If we can do a just-in-time <code>dexopt</code>
	invocation, this is easy. If we have to rely on the installer daemon, or
	the DEX was shipped only in ODEX, then the VM has to reject the DEX.
	<p>
	The output of <code>dexopt</code> is byte-swapped and struct-aligned
	for the host, and contains indices and offsets that are highly VM-specific
	(both version-wise and platform-wise). For this reason it's tricky to
	write a version of <code>dexopt</code> that runs on the desktop but
	generates output suitable for a particular device. The safest way to
	invoke it is on the target device, or on an emulator for that device.


	<h2>Generated DEX</h2>

	<p>
	Some languages and frameworks rely on the ability to generate bytecode
	and execute it. The rather heavy <code>dexopt</code> verification and
	optimization model doesn't work well with that.
	<p>
	We intend to support this in a future release, but the exact method is
	to be determined. We may allow individual classes to be added or whole
	DEX files; may allow Java bytecode or Dalvik bytecode in instructions;
	may perform the usual set of optimizations, or use a separate interpreter
	that performs on-first-use optimizations directly on the bytecode (which
	won't be mapped read-only, since it's locally defined).

	<address>Copyright © 2008 The Android Open Source Project</address>

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