New Group Proposal: OpenJDK Conformance

[Ray Gans]

On Oct 1, 2007, at 12:58 AM, Mark Wielaard wrote:

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


You're correct Mark, private mailing lists are not really in the  
spirit of being open. But I wouldn't characterize this new private  
mailing list as "secret" inasmuch as its purpose is to comply with  
the confidentiality terms of the license. I think it's "a good thing"  
to have one place where all OpenJDK JCK licensees can chat together.  
I guess all Sun can do is to ask for understanding that the  
confidentiality terms were chosen to protect Sun's business concerns  
and not to restrict the OpenJDK community's involvement with  
conformance testing.

As others have reported, making the JCK available to developers is a  
HUGE step for Sun. I am personally very pleased we've made this  
decision and I look forward to the JCK helping many participants in  
OpenJDK work more closely with each other to improve the technology  
and bring complete and conformant implementations onto platforms and  
environments that need it.

As to whether the JCK will ever be open sourced, I think Mark  
Reinhold said it best:

On Oct 1, 2007, at 5:59 PM, Mark Reinhold wrote
> As a wise man once said, my crystal ball is very cloudy.

-Ray