New Group Proposal: OpenJDK Conformance

[Mark Reinhold]

> Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:58:57 +0200
> From: Mark Wielaard <mark at klomp.org>

> On Fri, 2007-09-28 at 10:57 -0700, iris.clark at sun.com wrote:
>> 
>>                                                  ...  The second
>> mailing list is open only to group members who have signed the OpenJDK
>> Community TCK Licensee Agreement.  Discussions on this list will focus
>> on understanding the behavior and validity of specific tests and other
>> confidential materials.
> 
> I do have my doubts about this second part though. Is it really in the
> interest of the openjdk project to have secret lists where proprietary
> software is discussed without the rest of the community being able to
> see, share and help out? The thing I like about OpenJDK is that it is a
> free software community, where all software and ideas are shared in the
> open.

I agree that a proprietary TCK and a private discussion list do not align
with Free Software ideals.

I think that the OpenJDK TCK license is, nonetheless, such a significant
improvement on the past situation that many distributors and developers
will be interested in using the TCK despite its proprietary nature, and
in discussing specific tests and results with other TCK licensees as well
as with Sun's TCK team.

The obvious place to host such discussions is on openjdk.java.net.  We
could host the private list elsewhere, but then it'd be harder to find
and likely not archived.  We could also simply drop the idea of even a
private list and instead keep all discussions 1:1 between each licensee
and Sun, but that would mean missing the opportunity to foster an
effective sub-community of TCK licensees, and that'd be a shame.

>       There are still of course the binary blobs and the jtreg suite,
> but my understanding is that those will be liberated over time

Correct.

>                                                                (as
> icedtea and mauve have shown can already be done). Is the idea that over
> time the JCK will also become a proper part of OpenJDK under a free
> license?

As a wise man once said, my crystal ball is very cloudy.

- Mark