Need Advice to see if we can ship OpenJDK/JRE with Commercial App

[Dan Tran]

here is my precise use case:

   - InstallAnywhere with embed JRE to deploy a Tomcat application +
JRE + my webapp into a customer server ( linux, windows)


-Dan

On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 5:10 AM, Geir Magnusson Jr. <geir at pobox.com> wrote:
> I think I read too quickly and I think you're right as long as the bundling is a distribution convenience rather than some kind of "combined" work (modified or unmodified...)
>
> geir
>
>
> On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:00 AM, Ben Evans wrote:
>
>> Hi Geir,
>>
>> Well, we don't know what Dan's precise use case is (and yes the details do matter here) but I have many examples of software delivery media which contained both unmodified GPL binaries and proprietary software binaries.
>>
>> Are you claiming that this delivery mode is essentially infringing? I'd like to hear your reasoning for claiming that - I don't think I've heard that reading before.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Ben
>>
>>
>> On Oct 7, 2011 11:41 AM, "Geir Magnusson Jr." <geir at pobox.com> wrote:
>> have you read the GPL recently?
>>
>> geir
>>
>> On Oct 7, 2011, at 3:50 AM, Ben Evans wrote:
>>
>> > First of all, IANAL.
>> >
>> > Having said that, if you aren't modifying the OpenJDK then all you are
>> > doing is bundling a piece of unmodified GPL software into the same
>> > delivery mechanism as your proprietary application. Which should be
>> > fine - just include the GPL, a README which explains where to get the
>> > source for OpenJDK from, and don't claim that OpenJDK is your work, or
>> > anything to do with you.
>> >
>> > So you *can* do this. The question really is - *should* you do this.
>> > And there are very good reasons for not bundling a platform along with
>> > an application. I'm sure other people will chime in with other very
>> > good reasons why not to do this, but:
>> >
>> > Field Support Overhead. This is a huge one. You can't possibly test
>> > your app+JRE bundle on every conceivable machine configuration that
>> > your customers will have. Yet, by shipping a combined app+JRE, you
>> > have made your company responsible for support of that combined bundle
>> > in the eyes of your customers. The costs of servicing support requests
>> > from your customers will increase enormously if you are shipping a
>> > private JRE along with the app. If Windows is one of the platforms you
>> > need to support, then this problem becomes an absolute nightmare,
>> > especially if your customers are remote (and even worse if your
>> > customers are essentially corporate desktop users).
>> >
>> > If you're absolutely set on going this route, take a look at the
>> > profit model for your app, and the support cost model. Work out how
>> > many additional support cases it would take before your profit margin
>> > is eaten up. If that number isn't very, very large, then don't do
>> > this.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Ben
>> >
>> > On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 8:34 AM, Dan Tran <dantran at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> Sorry about the confusion I've made.
>> >>
>> >> Basically, I would like to ship OpenJDK's JRE with my App, instead of
>> >> Oracle's JRE which requires a license/support fee.
>> >>
>> >> Shipping OpenJDK with our app is purely for the convenient to our
>> >> customer.  There is no reason for us to modify OpenJDK
>> >>
>> >> However, according to OpenJDK license which is GPLv2 with "Classpath"
>> >> Exception.  So my guess is we can ship OpenJDK with our app without
>> >> the obligation of open up our source code.
>> >>
>> >> However, to be very sure, I  would like to ping this forum to see if
>> >> I miss any thing, and also to find out if any one are on the same
>> >> route
>> >>
>> >> Thanks
>> >>
>> >> -Dan
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 11:26 PM, Ben Evans
>> >> <benjamin.john.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> Hi Dan,
>> >>>
>> >>> Your mails are quite hard to understand (and I'm guessing English
>> >>> isn't your first language).
>> >>>
>> >>> Could you try explaining again exactly what you want to do and why you
>> >>> want to bundle a JRE or JDK with your app?
>> >>>
>> >>> Are you making modifications to OpenJDK? Or is your application just a
>> >>> Java-based app and you want to ship a JRE for convenience?
>> >>>
>> >>> Thanks,
>> >>>
>> >>> Ben
>> >>>
>> >>> On Fri, Oct 7, 2011 at 7:11 AM, Dan Tran <dantran at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>> ie, little interests on commercial company willing to ship openjdk
>> >>>> with their app and but ship with Oracle JRE and pay for license fee.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> -D
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 10:58 PM, Henri Gomez <henri.gomez at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>> Since I found so little discussion about ability to ship OpenJDK with
>> >>>>>> a commercial app ( instead of Oracle JRE, and not paying for license
>> >>>>>> fee ), it sounds like OpenJDK 7 is NOT ready for prime time yet?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> What do you means by 'not ready for prime time yet' ?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>>
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