JNI - Attach thread to a VM in an arbitrary context?

[Luc Lieber]

It may seem like a simple question, but how would I attach a thread to a VM that was NOT created through native code? (That is, not created through the JNI_CreateJavaVM method).

My solution consists of a Java application that calls a native shared library, and I've found it necessary to spawn a new thread from within the native code and attach it to the VM.

I see all sorts of solutions around the net that all rely on having the JavaVM pointer already available, however the only JNI related item that I have available is possibly a JNIEnv pointer. While it may not seem like the 'best practice', I am desperately limited in what I can do differently at this time.

Thanks.

* I mean...come on, would it kill the JNI designers to store a pointer to the JavaVM in the environment contexts?

** I also assume that this answer isn't out there on the net anywhere, because this topic is one of the first hits on Google now........

***
I think that I figured it out now...

The solution that I'm going with is caching the JavaVM pointer when I catch it in the JNI_OnLoad method is invoked when loading the library. I thought that caching JNI related items was considered bad practice, but oh well. It seems to work.

That's how I solved it, in-case anyone else has a similar issue.