Open JDK vs Sun JDK

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi Amit,

On Wed, 2007-10-03 at 18:03 +0530, Amit Kumar Saha wrote:
> I am working on an article which has "Open JDK vs Sun JDK" as its
> theme.

Nice, let us know when and where it will be published.
I think the title/theme is slightly wrong though.
Try changing 'vs' to something like 'extends', see below...

>  The agenda for the article is roughly as follows:
> 
> 1. The motive behind Open JDK

Having fun with the community! :)
There are a lot of official motives listed at:
http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp

> 2. Licensing issues related to Open JDK

Almost everything is released under the GPL now. There are a couple of
pieces that couldn't be released right now. These are being worked on by
various groups to make everything available under the GPL. There is the
icedtea project http://icedtea.classpath.org/ for example which provides
a full GPLed release where all the binary blobs from openjdk not yet
released under the GPL are replaced with code from GNU Classpath so that
various GNU/Linux distribution can start shipping a OpenJDK variant
right now:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/IcedTea
http://lists.debian.org/debian-java/2007/08/msg00028.html

Does anybody have some kind of overview page listing the remaining
components and their replacement status in openjdk/icedtea?

> 3. What should people - programmers (hobbyist, professional)  adopt -
> Open JDK or Sun JDK? Can we call one "better" than the other? Who is
> Open JDK mainly targeted at?

We can call the Sun JDK stable, but non-free and OpenJDK development,
but free. So depending on your priorities one or the other is more fun
to work with.

> 4. Future plans for Open JDK and Sun JDK.

I don't believe there is a concrete roadmap yet. But you can find some
of the ideas for both at:
http://tech.puredanger.com/java7
http://fitzsim.org/blog/?p=19

> 5. Which is the future? - Open JDK or Sun JDK

If things go as planned it isn't "or", it is "and".
See again the FAQ:
http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp

        Q: 
        Will Sun's commercial JDK releases be built from the open-source
        code?
        A: 
        Yes, for the most part. Since there's some encumbered code in
        the JDK, Sun will continue to use that code in commercial
        releases until it's replaced by fully-functional open-source
        alternatives. In addition, Sun may deliver more differentiated
        commercial JDK products that address specific market needs in
        the future with these variants still built from the open-source
        code. 

So Sun JDK will be just one instance of OpenJDK.

> I am not sure if this is the proper list, in that case, please point
> me to the appropriate place. I shall really appreciate some insights
> into all or some of the topics mentioned above.

I think you miss a topic "The Unexpected". Various groups are doing all
kind of unexpected (crazy!) things with the code now. See for example:
http://www.infoq.com/news/2007/06/openjdk-hybrids

Cheers,

Mark