Mika Extensions

/k/ offers extensions and enhancements to Mika on a commercial basis.

Bytecode Encryption

This enhancement enables Mika to run bytecode which has been encrypted, thus offering a degree of protection beyond that offered by obfuscation and jarfile encryption. The bytecode of each method is encrypted using a Dragon bitstream cipher with a 128-bit key, with a separate initialisation vector for each method, and is decrypted only at the moment of execution. This extension may be licensed from /k/, contact us for more details.

Ahead-of-time Compiler

Work has started on an ahead-of-time compiler which will extract selected methods from a .jar file and compile them to native code stored in a .so file. Within the native code all access to fields and methods will use internal Mika interfaces, avoiding the overhead of JNI. The first version is due to be released in December 2008, and will be made available to /k/ support customers only.

Just-in-time Compiler

Java5 support

Also planned are a just-in-time compiler and support for Java5 features such as generics; both will be optional features since they inevitably increase the size of the runtime and the resources required. These will also be for support customers only, release dates to be announced.