Apple Silicon M1 native version of MW--what does this mean exactly?

[Shtick Hustler]

Getting back into MW after a 2-year hiatus.

Was running on an Intel iMac previously. Now using an M1 Macbook Air.

I see in release notes that ver. 6.6.0 states
Mac OS M1 – M1 native version now available

What exactly does this mean? MW is a java app. Are parts of the code native? If so, which parts?

Also, does MW recommend installing the M1 native Zulu version of Java? It seems that Zulu is the thing that would make it run native. If you're running an Intel-based java distro, it seems that MW CANNOT run native.

What am I missing here?

 

[thestephenromano]

Intel is an x86 processor. M1 is an ARM-based processor.

Software compiled for x86 can run on an M1 Mac, but uses an virtualization layer called Rosetta that will translate x86 instructions to ARM on the fly.

Software compiled for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, etc) will run _natively_ i.e. not through Rosetta.

 

[Shtick Hustler]

Sorry, that's not what I was asking.

I was asking HOW the MW M1 version is native? I believe I saw that plugins for data providers like Rithmic are native, but how is the app itself native when it's run on Java, and the underlying Java version must have to be native (i.e. zulu) for the app to run natively.

 

[thestephenromano]

Ah, yeah, that's a good question. My assumption is that it's packaged and shipped with Java for ARM platform. Can we get a confirmation from @MotiveWave_Jason ?

 

[igor.s]

Java Runtime Environment is created for Apple silicon. The MW installation includes it no need to download Zulu version.

 

[Shtick Hustler]

Hmmm...so MotiveWave ignores your computer's java installation?

 

[ivory]

Below my understanding, but please keep in mind I'm just an uninformed user.

Hmmm...so MotiveWave ignores your computer's java installation?

It uses it's own copy. It's standard practice for commercial Java software, e.g. JetBrains IDEs (PyCharm, CLion etc.) come with their own JVM too. Same for OxygenXML - those are just a few examples I am aware of.

how is the app itself native when it's run on Java, and the underlying Java version must have to be native (i.e. zulu) for the app to run natively

In the strict sense, nothing that's written in Java is native, same for Python, JavaScript etc. But in a more practical sense, there's a difference between a JVM that runs on top of Rosetta 2 and JVM that runs on M1 directly. That's what I think was meant by "native" in this context.

 

[Shtick Hustler]

Ok. So I guess I can assume MW is using Zulu.

Thanks

 

[ivory]

Ok. So I guess I can assume MW is using Zulu.

Thanks

It occurred to me that I could just check, since I am on M1.

JAVADIR="$BASEDIR/Plugins/Java.runtime/Contents/Home/bin/MotiveWave"

(base) me@mycomputer bin % ./MotiveWave --version
openjdk 19.0.2 2023-01-17
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 19.0.2+7-44)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.0.2+7-44, mixed mode)

 

[Shtick Hustler]

It occurred to me that I could just check, since I am on M1.

Hmm...was under the impression that zulu was the only native version. But, I can confirm that MotiveWave shows as apple native code in Activity Monitor.

EDIT: on further research I see there are at least two more. 1 from Amazon, 1 from MS. Wonder which one MW uses?

 

[nooris]

Why does the M1 version require an installation of Rosetta? Shouldn't a native app not require that?

 

[igor.s]

This question should be asked the MW development team. My guess it has to do with the installer only not the platform itself. When the platform installed and running the MacOs recognizes it as Apple not Intel.

cheers.

 

[nooris]

This question should be asked the MW development team. My guess it has to do with the installer only not the platform itself. When the platform installed and running the MacOs recognizes it as Apple not Intel.

cheers.

Thanks

 

[igor.s]

Hmm...was under the impression that zulu was the only native version. But, I can confirm that MotiveWave shows as apple native code in Activity Monitor.

EDIT: on further research I see there are at least two more. 1 from Amazon, 1 from MS. Wonder which one MW uses?

OpenJDK. All about licensing...