Craig Box wrote:
So, you either ship Sun's java or you don't.
Erm, are you getting this in the correct context?
Umm, I think so: http://download.java.net/dlj/DLJ-v1.1.txt "(c) you do not combine, configure or distribute the Software to run in conjunction with any additional software that implements the same or similar functionality or APIs as the Software; " I read that as Sun java or no Sun java, I might very well be wrong, but GCJ and the GNU Classpath implement "the same or similar functionality or APIs as the Software"
The rest of the comment says "That clause of DLJ simply means you can't take the Sun package apart and use elements of it to complete or modify another package - so, for example, it would be a breach of the license to take the Swing classes from the Sun JDK and add them to GNU/Classpath. Just shipping the two systems alongside each other is explicitly OK."
The two are license incompatable and I am sure Sun will keep it that way.
Which sounds fair enough to me. They are not bequeathing their classes for use with GCJ, but you can ship whatever you like.
But not both ;)
So, IMHO, Sun's attempt to "open" java is more a wolf in sheeps clothing than some gift that the OSS communities should be grateful for.
The people who write Java applications that people have to interact with, presumably write them with Sun's JVM (or if not it specifically, the set of standards and classes it implements at the time) in mind.
If people can get Sun's Java on Linux, it's another thing to cross of the list of reasons to change. It's nice that people have been working on alternatives, but until they get "feature complete" (still waiting for a stable release of Mono's windows.forms), nothing beats the reference implementation.
Still.. Its not OSS From JPackage's mailing list: https://www.zarb.org/pipermail/jpackage-discuss/2006-May/thread.html#9914 and from debian's legal: http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2006/05/threads.html#00064 As previsouly stated, its a wolf in sheeps clothing. And the best comment I have seen on this comes from Warren Togami: - Do not sacrifice liberty for a little short-term convenience. Sums it up :) Michael