Sun Publishes Source Code of Darkstar Game Server
Sun published the server and client source code for the Sun Game Server (project name "Darkstar") under the GPLv2 this weekend.
Sun describes its game server as a high-performance, scalable server technology for online multiplayer games, saying that users should be able to run any kind of online game on the platform. Server side programming is simpler and is expressly targeted at smaller developers: the developer environment hides the complexity of the network technology giving programmers the ability to focus on developing games.
The developer package includes an API and software for the developer server and/or client. Clients can be implemented using MonkeyEngine or Panda3D, for example. Programming has been in J2SE only thus far; APIs for C/C++ and J2ME are planned. It is necessary to compile the code to create Java bytecode, however.
The development server in the Software Development Kit (SDK) runs on a single host, and lacks several features of the production game server (Sun Game Server, SGS), for example the ability to build server clusters. In its comment on the project website the team does not disclose when the clustering-capable version of the game server will go Open Source. Source code and a binary archive are available for downloading.
The Darkstar project is one of ten projects run by the Sun Labs research department and has been classified as "System Software" by Sun. Other fields of research include "Network Clients" with ten projects, "System Science" with four and "System Hardware" with three projects.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.