JDK 7 Updates: Policy Changes

[Volker Simonis]

On Monday, June 29, 2015, Andrew Haley <aph at redhat.com> wrote:

> I'm looking at the existing rules for JDK 7 Updates, and I can't see
> much that I think should be changed.  There are some process rules which
> we may not follow closely, and we should review them.
>
> https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/jdk7u/JDK+7+Updates%3A+Ground+Rules
>
> However, there are some issues we should dicuss.
>
> Some of the content of the Wiki is out of date.  In particular, the
> "JDK 7 Update Project Proposal Q & A" is somewhat misleading.  I have
> lightly edited it, but as much of what it refers to has passed it
> perhaps makes more sense to delete it or replace it with something
> which reflects reality.
>
> Such as:
>
> Which bug database should we use?  The OpenJDK JIRA is the obvious
> choice, but access is very limited.  For OpenJDK 6 updates we have
> been using the database at https://java.net/jira/browse/OPENJDK6,
> which is much more accessible.  Should we do the same for OpenJDK 7?
>
> All of the Linux distros and some others use the IcedTea 2.x forests
> rather than the source trees at
> http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk7u/jdk7u-dev.  The IcedTea trees have a
> lot of back-ported code, some of it essential.  Should we apply these
> patches to the JDK 7 Updates tree?
>
> Yes, because:
>
> It would make the official 7 Updates trees much better, fix bugs,
> improve performance, etc.
>
> No, because:
>
> Everyone (at least on GNU/Linux systems) uses the IcedTea 2.x forests
> anyway.  It's a lot of work, and it's pointlessly moving furniture
> around.
>
> I think we should go with "Yes", after proper patch review.  The main
> advantage, IMO, is that it would give us a chance to re-review these
> patches and be sure that we still really need them.
>
>
I agree with you Andrew and I'd really welcome if you merge the IcedTea
patches into the JDK 7 update forest. I observed that there is some
confusion out there among many Java users who don't know exactly if they ar
using an "Oracle JDK", a vanilla "OpenJDK" or a version of "IcedTea" and
very few understand the actual differences between these three version.
Merging two of them may certainly simplify the situation.

But there's one more thing to consider here: I don't know what patches you
have in IcedTea but merging them into the OpenJDK jdk7u-dev forest can only
be done under the Oracle Contribution Agreement. So if you should have any
patches in IcedTea for which you do not have the permission to submit them
under the OCA into the OpenJDK forest that would be problematic.

Or do you have a similar agreement like the OCA in place for contributions
to IcedTea which allows you reuse them under whatever license you like?

Regards,
Volker

I welcome your comments.
>
> Andrew.
>