diff --git a/SWIG/Examples/Makefile.in b/SWIG/Examples/Makefile.in
index 8aa2a1364..f04ef2b4c 100644
--- a/SWIG/Examples/Makefile.in
+++ b/SWIG/Examples/Makefile.in
@@ -231,6 +231,34 @@ python_static_cpp: $(SRCS)
 	$(PYTHON_INCLUDE) $(LIBS)  -L$(PYTHON_LIB) $(PYTHON_LIBOPTS) -o $(TARGET)
 
 
+##################################################################
+#####                       JAVA                            ######
+##################################################################
+
+# You need to set this variable to the java directories containing the
+# files "jni.h" and "md.h"
+# usually something like /usr/java/include and /usr/java/include/<arch-osname>.
+
+JAVA_INCLUDE= @JAVAINC@
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Build a java dynamically loadable module (C)
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+java: $(SRCS)
+	$(SWIG) -java $(SWIGOPT) $(INTERFACE)
+	$(CC) -c $(CCSHARED) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS) $(ISRCS) $(INCLUDE) $(JAVA_INCLUDE) 
+	$(LDSHARED) $(OBJS) $(IOBJS) $(LIBS) -o $(TARGET)$(SO)
+
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Build a java dynamically loadable module (C++)
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+java_cpp: $(SRCS)
+	$(SWIG) -java -c++ $(SWIGOPT) $(INTERFACE)
+	$(CXX) -c $(CCSHARED) $(CFLAGS) $(SRCS) $(ISRCS) $(INCLUDE) $(JAVA_INCLUDE) 
+	$(CXXSHARED) $(OBJS) $(IOBJS) $(LIBS) $(CPP_DLLIBS) -o $(TARGET)$(SO)
+
 ##################################################################
 #####                       SWIG                            ######
 ##################################################################
diff --git a/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/Makefile b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d62e5bfeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+TOP        = ../..
+SWIG       = $(TOP)/../swig
+SRCS       = example.c
+TARGET     = libexample
+INTERFACE  = example.i
+SWIGOPT    = 
+all::
+	$(MAKE) -f $(TOP)/Makefile SRCS='$(SRCS)' SWIG='$(SWIG)' \
+	SWIGOPT='$(SWIGOPT)' TARGET='$(TARGET)' INTERFACE='$(INTERFACE)' java
+
+clean::
+	rm -f *_wrap* *.o core *~ *.so *.pm myperl
+
diff --git a/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/README b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/README
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..07e8da069
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/README
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Simple example from users manual.
diff --git a/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/example.i b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/example.i
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7b678776
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/example.i
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/* File : example.i */
+%module example
+%{
+/* Put headers and other declarations here */
+%}
+
+
+extern double My_variable;
+extern int    fact(int);
+%name(mod) extern int    my_mod(int n, int m);
+extern char   *get_time();
diff --git a/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/main.java b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/main.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bbebfb660
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SWIG/Examples/java/simple/main.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import example;
+
+public class main {
+
+  static {
+    try {
+	System.loadLibrary("example");
+    } catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError e) {
+      System.err.println("Cannot load the example native code.\nMake sure your LD_LIBRARY_PATH contains \'.\'\n" + e);
+      System.exit(1);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String argv[]) {
+    System.out.println(example.get_time());
+
+    System.out.println("My Variable = " + example.get_My_variable());
+
+    for(int i=0; i<14; i++) {
+      System.out.println("" + i + " factorial is " + example.fact(i));
+    }
+
+    for(int i=1; i<100; i++) {
+      for(int j=1; j<100; j++) {
+        int n = example.mod(i, j);
+        example.set_My_variable(example.get_My_variable() + n);
+      }
+    }
+
+    System.out.println("My_variable = " + example.get_My_variable());
+  }
+}
diff --git a/SWIG/configure.in b/SWIG/configure.in
index 9dfc33654..d9d7ec730 100644
--- a/SWIG/configure.in
+++ b/SWIG/configure.in
@@ -430,8 +430,7 @@ AC_SUBST(PYLINK)
 
 PERLBIN=nope
 
-AC_ARG_WITH(perl5,[  --with-perl5=path       Set location of Perl5 executable],[
-	PERLBIN="$withval"], [PERLBIN=nope])
+AC_ARG_WITH(perl5,[  --with-perl5=path       Set location of Perl5 executable],[ PERLBIN="$withval"], [PERLBIN=nope])
 
 # First figure out what the name of Perl5 is
 
@@ -468,6 +467,61 @@ if test "$PERL" != nope; then
 
 AC_SUBST(PERL5EXT)
 
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Look for java
+#----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AC_ARG_WITH(java, [  --with-java=path        Set location of java executable],[JAVABIN="$withval"], [JAVABIN=nope])
+AC_ARG_WITH(javac, [  --with-javac=path        	Set location of javac executable],[JAVACBIN="$withval"], [JAVACBIN=nope])
+
+if test "$JAVABIN" = nope ; then
+  AC_CHECK_PROGS(JAVA, java kaffe guavac, nope)
+else
+  JAVA="$JAVABIN"
+fi
+
+if test "$JAVACBIN" = nope ; then
+  AC_CHECK_PROGS(JAVAC, javac, nope)
+else
+  JAVAC="$JAVACBIN"
+fi
+
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(for java include file jni.h)
+AC_ARG_WITH(java, [  --with-java-include=path	Set location of java include files], [JAVAINCDIR="$withval"], [JAVAINCDIR=nope])
+
+if test "$JAVAINCDIR" = nope; then
+  dirs="/usr/java/include /usr/local/java/include /opt/java/include /usr/include/java /usr/local/include/java /usr/include/kaffe /usr/local/include/kaffe"
+  for d in $dirs ; do
+    if test -r $d/jni.h ; then
+      AC_MSG_RESULT($d)
+      JAVAINCDIR=$d
+      JAVAINC="-I$d"
+      break
+    fi
+  done
+fi
+
+if test "$JAVAINCDIR" = nope ; then
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(not found)
+else
+  # now look for <arch>/md.h
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING(for java include file md.h)
+  JAVAMDDIR=`find $JAVAINCDIR -name md.h -print`
+  if test "$JAVAMDDIR" = "" ; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT(not found)
+  else
+    JAVAMDDIR=`dirname $JAVAMDDIR`
+    JAVAINC="${JAVAINC} -I$JAVAMDDIR"
+    AC_MSG_RESULT($JAVAMDDIR)
+  fi
+fi
+
+AC_SUBST(JAVA)
+AC_SUBST(JAVAC)
+AC_SUBST(JAVAINC)
+
+AC_SUBST(ROOT_DIR)ROOT_DIR=`pwd`
+
 #----------------------------------------------------------------
 # Look for Guile
 #----------------------------------------------------------------