Java GPL'd

Updated on December 07, 2023
By Pete Freitag

In case you missed it, Java has been open sourced with a GPL2 license. You could actually get Java source code for a while, but the license was restrictive. I hope Sun remains committed to working on Java, and perhaps this will lead to some interesting derivatives (for instance a JVM highly optimized for server use, etc). It's also good because Linux will probably start shipping with a JVM now.

Unmodified GPL2 for our SE, ME, and EE code. GPL2 + Classpath exception for the SE libraries. Javac and HotSpot and JavaHelp code drops today. The libraries to follow, with pain expected fighting through the encumbrances. Governance TBD, but external committers are a design goal. No short-term changes in the TCK or JCP

You can find the open source java site at sun.com/software/opensource/java/.

Via Tim Bray

java gpl open source

Java GPL'd was first published on November 14, 2006.

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