Proposal: Drop Stripped Implementations from Java SE 8

[Andrew Haley]

On 02/07/2014 11:39 AM, mark.reinhold at oracle.com wrote:
> In order to preserve compatibility and guard against fragmentation,
> the Stripped Implementations feature of Java SE 8 [1] requires some
> nontrivial changes to the TCK license.
> 
> I've been working with Oracle's legal department on these revisions
> for some time now.  We have an initial draft but at this point,
> unfortunately, I don't think there is sufficient time for members of
> this Expert Group, members of the JCP Executive Committee, and other
> interested parties to review and comment on these changes.
> 
> I therefore propose to drop the Stripped Implementations feature from
> Java SE 8.  This will only require changes to the Specification and
> to the TCK rules -- no change to the RI, or to actual TCK tests, is
> needed.
> 
> I remain convinced that Stripped Implementations are important to the
> future of the Platform.  Once Java SE 8 is out the door I'll look into
> how we might add this feature to the Platform in a release prior to
> Java SE 9.
> 
> If you have any comments on this proposal, please let me know no later
> than 17:00 UTC next Tuesday, 11 February.

Is it necessary to pull Stripped Implementations from the spec when
only the TCK licence requires it?  Or is the problem that, logically
speaking, implementations can't be compliant with the SE spec without
also being compliant with the TCK licence?

In other words, couldn't we handle this without amending the SE spec?

Andrew.