changeset 3254:b386b7cd2dd1

PR3139: Update documentation 2016-08-14 Andrew John Hughes <gnu.andrew@redhat.com> PR3139: Update documentation * NEWS: Updated. * README: Remove NIO2 backport information as this is long gone. 2010-07-22 Andrew John Hughes <ahughes@redhat.com> PR3139: Update documentation * INSTALL, * README: Updated to match current state of play and extended with missing information. Use IcedTea or IcedTea 1.x in place of "IcedTea6". * acinclude.m4: Add parameter information to configure help for all options. (FIND_ENDORSED_JARS): Remove unused macro and correct typos.
author Andrew John Hughes <gnu.andrew@redhat.com>
date Mon, 15 Aug 2016 03:44:04 +0100
parents 98303b52c967
children d9c4980dca4a
files ChangeLog INSTALL NEWS README acinclude.m4
diffstat 5 files changed, 99 insertions(+), 118 deletions(-) [+]
line wrap: on
line diff
--- a/ChangeLog	Mon Aug 15 03:01:21 2016 +0100
+++ b/ChangeLog	Mon Aug 15 03:44:04 2016 +0100
@@ -1,3 +1,23 @@
+2016-08-14  Andrew John Hughes  <gnu.andrew@redhat.com>
+
+	PR3139: Update documentation
+	* NEWS: Updated.
+	* README: Remove NIO2 backport information
+	as this is long gone.
+
+2010-07-22  Andrew John Hughes  <ahughes@redhat.com>
+
+	PR3139: Update documentation
+	* INSTALL,
+	* README: Updated to match current state of
+	play and extended with missing information.
+	Use IcedTea or IcedTea 1.x in place of
+	"IcedTea6".
+	* acinclude.m4: Add parameter information to
+	configure help for all options.
+	(FIND_ENDORSED_JARS): Remove unused macro and
+	correct typos.
+
 2016-07-17  Andrew John Hughes  <gnu.andrew@redhat.com>
 
 	PR3092: SystemTap is heavily confused
--- a/INSTALL	Mon Aug 15 03:01:21 2016 +0100
+++ b/INSTALL	Mon Aug 15 03:44:04 2016 +0100
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Building IcedTea6
-=================
+Building IcedTea
+================
 
 For convenience we've provided make targets that automatically
 download, extract and patch the source code from openjdk.java.net, in
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 A bootstrap JDK, either:
   - GNU libgcj >= 4.3.0 (or equivalent class library based on GNU Classpath >= 0.95) (the default)
-  - IcedTea6
+  - IcedTea 1.x
 Eclipse Java Compiler (ecj)
 CUPS
 libX11 (xproto, libX11, libXext, libXtst, libXi, libXt, libXinerama, libXcomposite, libXau, libXdmcp, libxcb)
@@ -63,10 +63,10 @@
 in that order.
 
 A quick build can be performed by passing --disable-bootstrap.
-This requires a recent version of IcedTea6 as the boot JDK, so
+This requires a recent version of IcedTea 1.x as the boot JDK, so
 the first three JDKs above are not searched for.
 
-Note that IcedTea7 can not be used to build IcedTea6.
+Note that IcedTea 2.x and 3.x can not be used to build IcedTea 1.x.
 
 There is currently no install target.  IcedTea ends up in
 openjdk.build when the build completes.
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@
 to configure:
 
 * --disable-docs: Don't build the Javadoc documentation.
+* --disable-bootstrap: Perform a quick build using an installed
+  copy of IcedTea 1.x.  If a directory is not specified, a check against
+  the list presented above is performed.
 * --with-openjdk-src-dir: Copy the specified OpenJDK tree, rather than
   downloading and extracting a tarball.
 * --disable-optimizations: Build with -O0.
@@ -96,9 +99,6 @@
   query it at runtime to obtain the cache location, rather than using a
   hardcoded value.
 * --with-gcj: Compile ecj to native code with gcj prior to building.
-* --disable-bootstrap: Perform a quick build using an installed
-  copy of IcedTea6.  If a directory is not specified, a check against
-  the list presented above is performed.
 * --with-parallel-jobs: Run the specified number of parallel jobs when
   building HotSpot and the JDK.  If this option is passed without an
   argument, the number of online processors plus one is used.
@@ -144,12 +144,21 @@
 * --with-tzdata-dir: Specify the location of Java timezone data, defaulting to /usr/share/javazi.
 * --with-abs-install-dir: The final install location of the j2sdk-image, for use in the SystemTap tapset.
 * --with-llvm-config: Specify the location of the llvm-config binary.
+* --with-hotspot-build: The HotSpot to use, defaulting to 'original'.
+* --with-pax: The command used to PaX-mark built binaries.
+* --enable-Werror: Turn gcc & javac warnings into errors.
+* --disable-jar-compression: Don't compress the OpenJDK JAR files.
+* --disable-downloading: Don't download tarballs if not available; fail instead.
 * --disable-bootstrap-tools: Use javac and javah from langtools, not the bootstrap JDK.
 * --with-fonts-dir: Specify the location of system fonts. This is currently only used on Gentoo systems.
 
 Other options may be supplied which enable or disable new features.
 These are documented fully in the relevant section below.
 
+* --disable-tests: Disable the running of all JTReg tests.
+* --disable-hotspot-tests: Disable the running of the HotSpot JTReg suite.
+* --disable-langtools-tests: Disable the running of the langtools JTReg suite.
+* --disable-jdk-tests: Disable the running of the jdk JTreg suite.
 * --enable-pulse-java: Build the PulseAudio sound provider.
 * --disable-xrender: Don't include the XRender pipeline.
 * --enable-systemtap: Include support for tracing using systemtap.
@@ -158,7 +167,6 @@
 * --enable-jamvm: Replace HotSpot with JamVM.
 * --enable-shark: Build the Shark LLVM-based JIT.
 * --enable-zero: Build the zero assembler port on x86/x86_64/sparc platforms.
-* --with-hotspot-build: The HotSpot to use, defaulting to 'original'.
 * --with-rhino: Include Javascript support using Rhino.
 * --with-additional-vms=vm-list: Additional VMs to build using the system described
   below.
@@ -168,7 +176,7 @@
 Testing
 =======
 
-IcedTea6 includes support for running the test suite included with
+IcedTea includes support for running the test suite included with
 OpenJDK, using the in-tree copy of JTReg.  Invoking 'make check' will
 cause the HotSpot, JDK and langtools test suites to be run.  It will
 exit with an error code if a regression test fails, so use 'make check
@@ -176,57 +184,47 @@
 failures occur in one.  The individual test suites may be run using
 the check-hotspot, check-jdk and check-langtools targets respectively,
 or by setting jtreg_checks e.g. jtreg_checks="langtools hotspot".
+The --disable-tests option can be used to turn off all tests, and the
+--disable-{hotspot,langtools,jdk}-tests options can be used to turn
+off individual suites.  This is useful when using 'make distcheck'
+as a way of avoiding running the extensive JDK test suite which
+takes several hours.
 
 The PulseAudio provider
 =======================
 
-IcedTea6 includes an implementation of the javax.sound.* APIs using
+IcedTea includes an implementation of the javax.sound.* APIs using
 PulseAudio which can be enabled using --enable-pulse-java.   The resulting
 provider is org.classpath.icedtea.pulseaudio.PulseAudioMixerProvider.
 
 XRender Support
 ===============
 
-IcedTea6 includes support for an Xrender-based rendering pipeline
+IcedTea includes support for an Xrender-based rendering pipeline
 developed by Clemens Eisserer (http://linuxhippy.blogspot.com/).  This
 is compiled by default, and can be disabled using --disable-xrender.
 To actually use the pipeline, the sun.java2d.xrender property needs to
 be set to true, e.g.  by passing the -Dsun.java2d.xrender=True option
 to java.
 
-NIO2 Backport
-=============
-
-IcedTea6 includes a backport of NIO2 from OpenJDK7; see
-http://openjdk.java.net/projects/nio/.  This provides support for
-asynchronous I/O and an improved file system API, providing access to
-POSIX file permissions, timestamps, extended attributes and ACLs and
-allowing directories to be watched.  This is enabled using the
---enable-nio2 option.
-
-As new classes can not be added to the java.* and javax.* namespace of
-the 1.6 API, the new java.nio classes are contained in
-org.classpath.icedtea.java.nio, so code will needed to be adjusted to
-work with the backport.
-
 SystemTap
 =========
 
-IcedTea6 includes work to allow the existing DTrace probes included in
+IcedTea includes work to allow the existing DTrace probes included in
 OpenJDK to be used with SystemTap.  This is enabled using the
 --enable-systemtap option, and requires version 0.9.5 or later (0.9.9
 or later if you want Java method tracing).  The tapset needs to know
 the final install location of the JDK, so the --with-abs-install-dir
 should also be used to specify this.  If not set, it defaults to the
-in-tree location of openjdk/build/<os>-<arch>/j2sdk-image and requires
+in-tree location of openjdk.build/j2sdk-image and requires
 manual changes to tapset/hotspot.stp to work from elsewhere. For
 example, if you plan to install the resulting build in
 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk, then you should specify
 --enable-systemtap
 --with-abs-install-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk.
 
-NSS Security Provider
-=====================
+The NSS PKCS11 Security Provider
+================================
 
 OpenJDK includes an NSS-based security provider in the form of
 sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11.  However, as this needs to know the
@@ -240,12 +238,12 @@
 CACAO
 =====
 
-IcedTea6 can use CACAO as the virtual machine, as opposed to HotSpot.
+IcedTea can use CACAO as the virtual machine, as opposed to HotSpot.
 One advantage of this is that CACAO has a JIT implementation for
 more platforms than HotSpot, including ppc, ppc64, arm and mips.
 When --enable-cacao is specified, CACAO will be downloaded and built,
 followed by the JDK portion of OpenJDK resulting in a CACAO+OpenJDK
-image in openjdk/build/<os>-<arch>/j2sdk-image.  The --with-cacao-home
+image in openjdk.build/j2sdk-image.  The --with-cacao-home
 option can be used to specify the use of an existing CACAO install
 instead, and --with-cacao-src-zip/dir options exist to allow the use
 of a pre-downloaded zip or source tree respectively.
@@ -253,16 +251,16 @@
 JamVM
 =====
 
-IcedTea6 can use JamVM as the virtual machine, as opposed to HotSpot.
+IcedTea can use JamVM as the virtual machine, as opposed to HotSpot.
 When --enable-jamvm is specified, JamVM will be downloaded and built,
 followed by the JDK portion of OpenJDK resulting in a JamVM+OpenJDK
-image in openjdk/build/<os>-<arch>/j2sdk-image.  The
---with-jamvm-src-zip option exists to allow the use of a pre-downloaded zip.
+image in openjdk.build/j2sdk-image.  The --with-jamvm-src-zip option
+exists to allow the use of a pre-downloaded zip.
 
 Zero & Shark
 ============
 
-IcedTea6 includes a zero assembler port of HotSpot, which avoids
+IcedTea includes a zero assembler port of HotSpot, which avoids
 architecture-specific code as much as possible, allowing an
 interpreter to be built and run on most platforms (albeit very
 slowly).  As HotSpot only includes JITs for x86, x86_64 and SPARC, the
@@ -289,7 +287,7 @@
 hotspot.map file maps the name to a changeset from a given repository
 URL.  During the build, it downloads HotSpot from
 ${URL}/archive/${CHANGESET}.tar.gz and the resulting file is verified
-using the MD5 sum stored in hotspot.map.
+using the SHA256 sum stored in hotspot.map.
 
 New build selections may be provided by providing further mappings in
 the hotspot.map file.  The name can be anything
@@ -311,12 +309,13 @@
 download stage and just verifies that the zip's MD5 sum matches that
 of the requested build.
 
-At present, IcedTea6 supports the 'original' HotSpot 23 provided as
+At present, IcedTea 1.x supports the 'original' HotSpot 23 provided as
 part of the upstream tarball.  Note that the norm. is for up to one
-alternate (non-default) build to be supported and just passing --with-hotspot-build
-(equivalent to --with-hotspot-build=yes) will always provide the alternate
-build.  Conversely, passing --without-hotspot-build (equivalent to
---with-hotspot-build=no) provides the original build from the OpenJDK tarball.
+alternate (non-default) build to be supported and just passing
+--with-hotspot-build (equivalent to --with-hotspot-build=yes) will
+always provide the alternate build.  Conversely, passing
+--without-hotspot-build (equivalent to --with-hotspot-build=no)
+provides the original build from the OpenJDK tarball.
 
 When no option is specified, the default build is used.  At present,
 this is 'original'.
@@ -324,7 +323,7 @@
 JavaScript Support
 ==================
 
-IcedTea6 adds Javascript support via the javax.script API by using
+IcedTea adds Javascript support via the javax.script API by using
 an existing installation of Rhino.  Support is enabled by default,
 with the following locations being searched for a Rhino JAR file:
 
--- a/NEWS	Mon Aug 15 03:01:21 2016 +0100
+++ b/NEWS	Mon Aug 15 03:44:04 2016 +0100
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
   - PR2969: ENABLE_SYSTEM_LCMS is not defined if ENABLE_LCMS2 is not set
   - PR3092: SystemTap is heavily confused by multiple JDKs
   - PR3137: GTKLookAndFeel does not honor gtk-alternative-button-order
+  - PR3139: Update documentation
 
 New in release 1.13.11 (2016-05-05):
 
--- a/README	Mon Aug 15 03:01:21 2016 +0100
+++ b/README	Mon Aug 15 03:44:04 2016 +0100
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-IcedTea6
-========
+IcedTea
+=======
 
 The IcedTea project provides a harness to build the source code from
 openjdk.java.net using Free Software tools and dependencies.
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 IcedTea addresses two problems: it eliminates the build requirement on
 proprietary build tools and provides additional patches and features
 (such as Javascript support via Rhino) not available in OpenJDK.
+It also provides support for using the alternative CACAO & JamVM
+virtual machines.
 
 See INSTALL for build instructions.
 
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@
   http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
 
 Anonymous Mercurial checkout:
-  hg clone http://icedtea.classpath.org/hg/icedtea6
+  hg clone http://icedtea.classpath.org/hg/icedtea
 
 Java compatibility
 ------------------
@@ -65,7 +67,7 @@
 
 Both Zero and Shark are now part of upstream OpenJDK.
 
-On ARM32, IcedTea6 adds a native JIT port built on top of Zero, which
+On ARM32, there is alsos a native JIT port built on top of Zero, which
 is built on this platform by default.
 
 CACAO as VM
@@ -97,9 +99,9 @@
 systemtap hotspot.stp tapset for easy tracing with systemtap's stap
 utility. The probes are documented in tapset/hotspot.stp.
 
-This requires the systemtap-sdt-devel package as build dependency and
+This requires the systemtap-sdt-devel package as a build dependency and
 optionally the systemtap package at run time when the user want to use
-the tapset to trace java programs. The probes have zero overhead when
+the tapset to trace Java programs. The probes have zero overhead when
 not used and can safely be compiled in even when not used at runtime.
 
 Support for Additional VMs
--- a/acinclude.m4	Mon Aug 15 03:01:21 2016 +0100
+++ b/acinclude.m4	Mon Aug 15 03:44:04 2016 +0100
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
   ECJ_DEFAULT=/usr/bin/ecj
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if an ecj binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([ecj],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-ecj,bytecode compilation with ecj)],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-ecj[[=PATH]]],the path to an ecj binary)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       ECJ=no
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@
   JAVAC_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/javac
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a javac binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([javac],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-javac,bytecode compilation with javac)],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-javac[[=PATH]]],the path to a javac binary)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       JAVAC=no
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@
   JAVA_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/java
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a java binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([java],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-java,specify location of the 1.5 java vm)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-java[[=PATH]]],specify location of a 1.5 Java VM)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       JAVA=no
@@ -280,8 +280,8 @@
 [
   DEFAULT_SRC_DIR=${abs_top_builddir}/openjdk
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for an OpenJDK source directory])
-  AC_ARG_WITH([openjdk-src-dir],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-openjdk-src-dir=DIR,specify the location of the openjdk sources)],
+  AC_ARG_WITH([openjdk-src-dir=DIR],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-openjdk-src-dir=PATH],specify the location of the OpenJDK source tree)],
   [
     OPENJDK_SRC_DIR=${withval}
     with_external_src_dir=true
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for an ecj JAR file])
   AC_ARG_WITH([ecj-jar],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-ecj-jar,specify location of the ECJ jar)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-ecj-jar[[=PATH]]],specify location of an ECJ JAR file)],
   [
     if test -f "${withval}"; then
       ECJ_JAR="${withval}"
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@
   JAVAH_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/javah
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a javah binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([javah],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-javah,specify location of the Java header generator)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-javah[[=PATH]]],specify location of the Java header generator)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       JAVAH=no
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@
   JAR_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/jar
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a jar binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([jar],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-jar,specify location of Java archive tool (jar))],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-jar[[=PATH]]],specify location of Java archive tool (jar))],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       JAR=no
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@
   RMIC_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/rmic
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a rmic binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([rmic],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-rmic,specify location of the RMI compiler)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-rmic[[=PATH]]],specify location of the RMI compiler)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       RMIC=no
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@
   NATIVE2ASCII_DEFAULT=${SYSTEM_JDK_DIR}/bin/native2ascii
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([if a native2ascii binary was specified])
   AC_ARG_WITH([native2ascii],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-native2ascii,specify location of the native2ascii converter)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-native2ascii[[=PATH]]],specify location of the native2ascii converter)],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = "xyes"; then
       NATIVE2ASCII=no
@@ -560,51 +560,11 @@
   AC_SUBST([NATIVE2ASCII])
 ])
 
-AC_DEFUN([IT_FIND_ENDORSED_JARS],
-[
-  AC_MSG_CHECKING(for endorsed jars dir)
-  AC_ARG_WITH([endorsed-dir],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-endorsed-dir,specify directory of endorsed jars (xalan-j2.jar, xalan-j2-serializer.jar, xerces-j2.jar))],
-  [
-    if test "x${withval}" = "xno"; then
-        ENDORSED_JARS="${withval}"
-        AC_MSG_RESULT(${withval})
-    else if test -f "${withval}/xalan-j2.jar"; then
-      if test -f "${withval}/xalan-j2-serializer.jar"; then
-        if test -f "${withval}/xerces-j2.jar"; then
-          ENDORSED_JARS="${withval}"
-          AC_MSG_RESULT(${withval})
-        fi
-      fi
-    fi
-  ],
-  [
-    ENDORSED_JARS=
-  ])
-  if test -z "${ENDORSED_JARS}"; then
-    if test -f "/usr/share/java/xalan-j2.jar"; then
-      if test -f "/usr/share/java/xalan-j2-serializer.jar"; then
-        if test -f "/usr/share/java/xerces-j2.jar"; then
-          ENDORSED_JARS="/usr/share/java/xalan-j2.jar /usr/share/java/xalan-j2-serializer.jar /usr/share/java/xerces-j2.jar"
-          AC_MSG_RESULT(/usr/share/java)
-        fi
-      fi
-    fi
-    if test -z "${ENDORSED_JARS}"; then
-      AC_MSG_RESULT(missing)
-    fi
-  fi
-  if test -z "${ENDORSED_JARS}"; then
-    AC_MSG_ERROR("A directory containing required jars (xalan-j2.jar, xalan-j2-serializer.jar, xerces-j2.jar) was not found.")
-  fi
-  AC_SUBST(ENDORSED_JARS)
-])
-
 AC_DEFUN([IT_WITH_OPENJDK_SRC_ZIP],
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for an OpenJDK source zip])
   AC_ARG_WITH([openjdk-src-zip],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-openjdk-src-zip,specify the location of the openjdk source zip)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-openjdk-src-zip[[=PATH]]],specify the location of the OpenJDK source zip)],
   [
     ALT_OPENJDK_SRC_ZIP=${withval}
     if test "x${ALT_OPENJDK_SRC_ZIP}" = "xno"; then
@@ -625,7 +585,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for an alternate jar command])
   AC_ARG_WITH([alt-jar],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-alt-jar, specify the location of an alternate jar binary to use for building)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-alt-jar=PATH, specify the location of an alternate jar binary to use for building)],
   [
     ALT_JAR_CMD=${withval}
     AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_ALT_JAR, test x = x)
@@ -642,7 +602,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to include Javascript support via Rhino])
   AC_ARG_WITH([rhino],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-rhino,specify location of the rhino jar)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-rhino[[=PATH]]],specify location of the rhino jar)],
   [
     case "${withval}" in
       yes)
@@ -890,8 +850,8 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for a CACAO home directory])
   AC_ARG_WITH([cacao-home],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-cacao-home],
-                              [CACAO home directory [[default=/usr/local/cacao]]])],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-cacao-home[[=PATH]]],
+                              [CACAO home directory [[PATH=/usr/local/cacao]]])],
               [
                 case "${withval}" in
                 yes)
@@ -915,7 +875,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for a CACAO source zip])
   AC_ARG_WITH([cacao-src-zip],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-cacao-src-zip,specify the location of the CACAO source zip)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-cacao-src-zip=PATH,specify the location of the CACAO source zip)],
   [
     ALT_CACAO_SRC_ZIP=${withval}
     if test "x${ALT_CACAO_SRC_ZIP}" = "xno"; then
@@ -953,7 +913,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to compile ecj natively])
   AC_ARG_WITH([gcj],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-gcj,location of gcj for natively compiling ecj)],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-gcj[[=PATH]]],location of gcj for natively compiling ecj)],
   [
     GCJ="${withval}"
   ],
@@ -974,7 +934,7 @@
   DEFAULT_BUILD=${ORIGINAL_BUILD}
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([which HotSpot build to use])
   AC_ARG_WITH([hotspot-build],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hotspot-build,the HotSpot build to use (see hotspot.map))],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hotspot-build=BUILD,the HotSpot build to use [[BUILD=default]])],
   [
     HSBUILD="${withval}"
   ],
@@ -991,7 +951,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for a HotSpot source zip])
   AC_ARG_WITH([hotspot-src-zip],
-              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hotspot-src-zip,specify the location of the hotspot source zip)],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hotspot-src-zip=PATH,specify the location of the HotSpot source zip)],
   [
     ALT_HOTSPOT_SRC_ZIP=${withval}
     if test "x${ALT_HOTSPOT_SRC_ZIP}" = "xno"; then
@@ -1034,7 +994,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([which Mercurial revision to use])
   AC_ARG_WITH([hg-revision],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hg-revision,the Mercurial revision to use)],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-hg-revision=REV,the Mercurial revision to use [[REV=tip]])],
   [
     HGREV="${withval}"
     AC_MSG_RESULT([${HGREV}])
@@ -1074,9 +1034,8 @@
   AC_REQUIRE([IT_CHECK_IF_BOOTSTRAPPING])
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([for a JDK home directory])
   AC_ARG_WITH([jdk-home],
-             [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-jdk-home],
-                              [jdk home directory \
-                               (default is first predefined JDK found)])],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-jdk-home[[=PATH]]],
+                              [jdk home directory (default is first predefined JDK found)])],
              [
                 if test "x${withval}" = xyes
                 then
@@ -1125,7 +1084,7 @@
   DEFAULT="/usr/share/javazi"
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([which Java timezone data directory to use])
   AC_ARG_WITH([tzdata-dir],
-	      [AS_HELP_STRING(--with-tzdata-dir,set the Java timezone data directory [[default=/usr/share/javazi]])],
+	      [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-tzdata-dir[[=DIR]]],set the Java timezone data directory [[DIR=/usr/share/javazi]])],
   [
     if test "x${withval}" = x || test "x${withval}" = xyes; then
       TZDATA_DIR_SET=yes
@@ -1155,7 +1114,7 @@
 [
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([for additional virtual machines to build])
 AC_ARG_WITH(additional-vms,
-            AC_HELP_STRING([--with-additional-vms=vm-list],
+            AC_HELP_STRING([--with-additional-vms=VM-LIST],
 	    [build additional virtual machines. Valid value is a comma separated string with the backend names `jamvm', `cacao', `zero' and `shark'.]),
 [
 if test "x${withval}" != x
@@ -1450,7 +1409,7 @@
 proc_default=$(($it_cv_proc + 1))
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([how many parallel build jobs to execute])
 AC_ARG_WITH([parallel-jobs],
-	[AS_HELP_STRING([--with-parallel-jobs],
+	[AS_HELP_STRING([--with-parallel-jobs[[=NUM]]],
 			[build IcedTea using the specified number of parallel jobs])],
 	[
           if test "x${withval}" = xyes; then
@@ -1516,7 +1475,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to disable the execution of the langtools JTReg tests])
   AC_ARG_ENABLE([langtools-tests],
-                [AS_HELP_STRING(--disable-tests,do not run the langtools JTReg tests via make check-langtools [[default=no]])],
+                [AS_HELP_STRING(--disable-langtools-tests,do not run the langtools JTReg tests via make check-langtools [[default=no]])],
   [
     case "${enableval}" in
       no)
@@ -1538,7 +1497,7 @@
 [
   AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether to disable the execution of the JDK JTReg tests])
   AC_ARG_ENABLE([jdk-tests],
-                [AS_HELP_STRING(--disable-tests,do not run the JDK JTReg tests via make check-jdk [[default=no]])],
+                [AS_HELP_STRING(--disable-jdk-tests,do not run the JDK JTReg tests via make check-jdk [[default=no]])],
   [
     case "${enableval}" in
       no)