OpenJDK and JNI -- licensing

[Dalibor Topic]

Kevin Regan wrote:
> It would be great if Sun could give some specific examples in the FAQ to allay our fears. 

It does, actually: http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp#g33
There are plenty of examples in the demo and samples sections of the OpenJDK
source code covering all kinds of use scenarios, with or without JNI.
 
What the FAQ can't do is to provide an answer for any arbitrary scenario 
someone comes up with -  as human imagination knows few boundaries, that's 
ultimately what professional legal advice is for. You won't find it here, 
though, in case that's not been obvious from all the replies so far - this 
is a mailing list for developers.

What the FAQ also can't do is to explain the basics of the GPL, software
licensing, etc - there are plenty of resources that can explain the 
mechanics of all that, in particular there are legal professionals who 
can offer such advice where necessary. As you'd expect, that's all mentioned 
in the FAQ, too: http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp#g20

Finally, my answers are linking to the FAQ because it saves me the effort 
to type paragraphs like this one that point out the obvious.[1] ;)

cheers,
dalibor topic

[1] I wrestled with myself for a bit trying to figure out whether to include 
this joke paragraph or not - but given that it's late in the evening over here
in Germany, I'll pat myself on the back for managing to sneak in a 
self-referential paragraph into the discussion ;)

It'd be cool if replies to this post were haikus - licensing discussions tend 
to produce boring prose without some concentrated effort to make them fun.
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