Sun Moves Java Code Base To GPL 2

Sun Microsystems on Monday announced the release of the Java SE, Java ME and GlassFish Java EE platforms under the open-source General Public License (GPL) 2.

The open-source license includes the Java HotSpot Virtual Machine and the Java compiler (JavaC) components of Java SE. According to Sun, the move to open source will remove any inconsistencies in its commercial licensing and allow for greater collaboration across the Java developer community.

Sun's commercial license remains the same, and licensee partners still can get code through the Santa Clara, Calif., company's commercial source license.

Sun said it's maintaining its contributing agreements to the licensee and open-source communities, in which developers can receive joint copyrights patents for their efforts. The only difference between the licensee and open-source contributions is that code created on the open-source side can be adopted by licensed partners.

Along with the GPL 2 announcement, Sun said it plans to host an open-source mobile embedded community to control the phoneME project. The project aims to make the Java ME phone technology, which is based on Sun's Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) technology, fully available under GPL 2. Sun also plans to make available components based on the Connected Device Configuration (CDC) implementation.In addition, a new cqME project is opening in the near future to provide testing tools that evolve with every generation of embedded phone technologies. cqME also will be used to test specific implementations for code quality, and developers will be able to use the tools for their own implementations as well.

Sun is opening an OpenJDK development community to develop its Java SE code base. The full, buildable code base is expected to be available in the first half of 2007 on Java.net. The Java help system also is being offered under the GPL 2.

MARIO MOREJON is a technical editor for the CRN Test Center.