OpenJDK projects promoting proprietary builds

[Mark Wielaard]

On Sat, 2009-05-30 at 16:05 -0700, David Herron wrote:
> Please recall that JDK<n> != OpenJDK<n> though for values of n >= 7
> the difference is very small.  The JDK7 builds have some proprietary
> bits in them.  

Sure, that is why we have the Assembly Exception, and the Designated
Exception Modules, in case someone really needs to make such a release.
http://openjdk.java.net/legal/

> It's valuable to the JDK product cycle for JDK builds to have early
> access exposure so people can report bugs etc.  Sun started doing
> very-early-access releases with JDK6 and the Peabody Project, and
> early exposure was a purpose of the
> <project-name-never-to-be-spoken-again> Regressions Contest which I
> ran in early 2006. (See my java.net blog posting of Jan 30, 2006)  I'm
> sure you can understand the value, right?

Sure. If done under a license that would actually allow sharing of
information and help the OpenJDK community and not just Sun.

> There would also be value to the OpenJDK project for reference OpenJDK
> builds to be available.  For example to help those like you who are
> involved with packaging OpenJDK-derived builds.  Anybody could do
> those builds couldn't they?

Yes, and most distros now ship those bits. Maybe we should publicize
that better. It is just that some OpenJDK projects suddenly turn into
Sun builds for their early access builds that I think is not done.

Especially not since the special license on them is much more draconian
than most proprietary licenses I have ever seen. It prevents anybody
from sharing any information or use them for OpenJDK collaboration
(because that would be Confidential Information that would Irreparable
Harm Sun if released).

Cheers,

Mark