In the releasesyou find OpenJDK builds for Raspberry PI Zero W / armv6hf architecture.

A file name like jdk-17-gcc-10.1_glibc-2.28_binutils-2.31_Buster.tar means jdk-17-ga as JDK version, compiled with gcc 10.1, glibc 2.28, binutils-2.31 and Buster as sysroot. This means it runs on Debian Buster and above.

With ldd --version you get the glibc version of your system. It is important that your system has a glibc version equal or above the JDK version. I think binutils version is not really important, but just in case, I've added that information. You get the binutils version with ld -v. The GCC version should only be informational.

In this Readme is a tutorial how to build your own OpenJDK release in case you want build it yourself.

Raspberry PI Zero and Zero W use BCM2835 SoC. Also original Raspberry PI uses this SoC. CPU architecture is 32 Bit ARMv6hf which means hardfloat support.

When trying to install Java from the official repository latest version is Java 11 and when trying to execute you get an error

sudo apt install default-jre

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ java
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Server VM is only supported on ARMv7+ VFP

At first place have a look at https://www.azul.com/downloads/?package=jdk

They provide a working JDK 11 for Raspberry PI Zero W.

Make sure to select ARM 32-bit HF and then have a look at the Architecture column. There must be "v6" present otherwise the package won't run on the Raspberry PI Zero W.

Current (February 2022) there is no JDK17 for armv6.

You can build your JDK on your own. Go to releases on the official repository https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/tags and select your desired version. For this repo I've chosen https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/releases/tag/jdk-17-ga Download the source code and extract it.

We use Debian to build the JDK. This tutorial is based on https://github.com/openjdk/jdk17/blob/master/doc/building.md#cross-compiling-with-debian-sysroots

You need a fitting crosscompiler to compile. There is currently none working so we have to build one ourselves. That is part of another article an Repo. You find the build instructions as well a ready to go download there https://github.com/JsBergbau/GCC-cross-compiler-for-Raspberry-PI-Zero-W

The path of the cross compiler matters. It has to be put into /opt/cross-pi-gcc/

You need at least about 7 GB free diskspace. With packing files and stuff like that I recommend at least 10 GB free space, better 15 GB. A fast SSD is very helpful. A VirtualBox Debian is quite useful for compiling.

Memory, the more the better. I think it should be at least 4 GB, I've configured the VM with 15 GB, because there is enough RAM in my machine.

There are some prequisites required. Please install them via: sudo apt install qemu-user-static debootstrap autoconf unzip zip libz-dev openjdk-17-jdkjava

cd to your home directory (or any other you like). In the following we use the home directory for the builds.

sudo qemu-debootstrap \
  --arch=armhf \
  --verbose \
  --include=fakeroot,symlinks,build-essential,libx11-dev,libxext-dev,libxrender-dev,libxrandr-dev,libxtst-dev,libxt-dev,libcups2-dev,libfontconfig1-dev,libasound2-dev,libfreetype6-dev,libpng-dev,libffi-dev \
  --resolve-deps \
  buster \
  ~/sysroot-armhf \
  https://httpredir.debian.org/debian/

We use buster here as sysroot and not bullseye. This JDK build will also run on Debian 11 / Bullseye. The other way round could be problematic.

Adopt links via sudo chroot ~/sysroot-armhf symlinks -cr .

Targetsystem where OpenJDK will be running:

uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 5.10.92+ #1514 Mon Jan 17 17:35:21 GMT 2022 armv6l GNU/Linux`
lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Raspbian
Description:    Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Release:        11
Codename:       bullseye

Now lets make the crosscompiler available via export PATH=/opt/cross-pi-gcc/bin:/opt/cross-pi-gcc/libexec/gcc/arm-linux-gnueabihf/10.1.0:$PATH

cd ~
wget https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/archive/refs/tags/jdk-17-ga.tar.gz
tar xfv jdk-17-ga.tar.gz
cd jdk-jdk-17-ga

sh ./configure --openjdk-target=arm-linux-gnueabihf --with-sysroot=/home/pi/sysroot-armhf --with-abi-profile=armv6-vfp-hflt --with-num-cores=12 --with-memory-size=14000 --with-native-debug-symbols=zipped --with-jvm-variants=client
make images

The last step takes a while. I think about 7 to 15 minutes (didn't measure the time) on a Ryzen 5 Pro 5650GE.

Lets explain the options

• openjdk-target=arm-linux-gnueabihf for Raspberry PI Zero W which is armv6hf
• --with-sysroot=/home/pi/sysroot-armhf There are the header files for the target system
• --with-abi-profile=armv6-vfp-hflt for Raspberry PI Zero W which is armv6hf
• -with-num-cores=12 This is just to speed up build process. The more cores, the more memory you need
• --with-memory-size=14000 maximum memory size that should be used for the build process
• --with-native-debug-symbols=zipped in case you need Debug symbols. I've removed them in the download file.
• --with-jvm-variants=client That is very important. Without this you will get Error occurred during initialization of VM Server VM is only supported on ARMv7+ VFP

Regarding functionality there is no difference between client and server VM. In fact client VM will need less memory than server VM.

https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/hotspotfaq.html

What's the difference between the -client and -server systems?

These two systems are different binaries. They are essentially two different compilers (JITs)interfacing to the same runtime system. The client system is optimal for applications which need fast startup times or small footprints, the server system is optimal for applications where the overall performance is most important. In general the client system is better suited for interactive applications such as GUIs. Some of the other differences include the compilation policy,heap defaults, and inlining policy.

Your JDK is now in ~/jdk-jdk-17-ga/build/linux-arm-client-release/images/jdk If you don't need debug information use

• find . -iname '*.diz' -delete to delete all debug information files
• find . -exec strip --strip-debug {} + to remove debugging information in executable files, if there are. Prints a lot of errors. If someone has a better version please open a pullrequest or issue.

You can now pack your distribution tar cfz jdk.tar.gz jdk. With this method executable bits are preserved.

Distribute VM to your target system and have fun.

I used this VM to run https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli on a Raspberry PI Zero W and it works. You have to install rust on Raspberry PI and compile the native signal-client library on the Raspberry PI Zero W. This took about 193 minutes, about 3,25 hours. But after that it works. For more details of how to build, see https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli/wiki/Provide-native-lib-for-libsignal

Startup takes some time, but even on a Raspbperry PI 400 with fast SSD disk it takes about 20 seconds until signal-cli -a <Number> jsonRpc starts and receives messages. However when it runs, then CPU usage is quite low.