GIJ is a Java bytecode interpreter, not limited to interpreting bytecode. It includes a class loader which can dynamically load shared objects, so it is possible to give it the name of a class which has been compiled and put into a shared library on the class path.

The package contains as well a collection of wrapper scripts and symlinks. It is meant to provide a Java-RTE-like interface to the GIJ/GCJ tool set, limited to the headless tools and libraries.