I have an existing solution written in Java which I would love to run on OpenWrt routers. Will OpenWrt even run Java without installing a lot of dependencies? Anyone ever tried
I've never done it, but it is definitively possible. You won't be able to run the full Java VM, only specialized versions of it (JamVM, PhoneME, SableVM). Also please be aware that running a Java VM is fairly a lot overhead for this kind of machine.
I won't get much in detail because others have already done it. Check out these links.
EDIT: SableVM is unmaintained.
EDIT: As Amigable Clark Kant mentioned, you could compile your Java code to native by using the GNU Compiler for Java.