The J2SE source code is completely ready to be built in VS2005. However, the binaries are not executable because of the lack of appropriate manifests in every bin/*.exe file if the build is performed using VS2005.

According to MSDN: "Any C/C++ program built in Visual C++ 2005 has to include a manifest..." (see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235342.aspx).

The sample contents of the required manifest is as follows:

***************************************
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
    <dependency>
        <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.VC80.CRT" version="8.0.50727.762" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"></assemblyIdentity>
        </dependentAssembly>
    </dependency>
</assembly>
***************************************

Please note that the CRT version and the publicKeyToken of the CRT DLL is provided here for VS2005 Express Edition SP1.

It means that our Makefiles should find out the VS version used (be it 2003 or 2005, as well as the exact version number) while building, and supply the correct version number and the publicKeyToken to the manifest that should be linked into every *.exe file if the build is performed using VS2005.