I was happily surprised on Monday when Sun announced that they would
\nrelease Java ME, SE and EE under the GPL. Actually, “happily
\nsurprised” is an understatement: Sun also adopted the GNU Classpath
\nlinking exception! I couldn’t have hoped for a better result.<\/p>\n
Watching the announcement webcast was a surreal experience. It was as
\nif I were dreaming. Rich Green standing in front of the giant “GPLv2”
\nslide. The pre-recorded statement of praise from RMS. Jonathan
\nSchwartz pointedly asking Rich Green if OpenSolaris would be GPL’d.
\nThe Java world was upside down. The FSF-versus-Sun standoff
\nevaporated before my eyes. Even on Friday as the GPL rumours
\nswirled, I really couldn’t have imagined this event. Rarely does a
\nlong-standing conflict end so swiftly and constructively.<\/p>\n
Over the past few months I was tempted to be cynical about the pending
\nannouncement, but I really tried to keep an open mind. I learned this
\nmindset from Mark Wielaard and Dalibor Topic, two exemplar free
\nsoftware advocates. They were very patient, polite, and helpful with
\npeople from Sun who were contemplating the licensing decision. Mark
\nand Dalibor’s diplomacy almost certainly had a hand in Sun’s choice of
\nlicense.<\/p>\n
Given the excellence of the announcement itself, complete with FSF
\nendorsements, an initial code drop, open-subscription mailing lists,
\nand an exhaustively comprehensive FAQ, I’m confident that Sun
\nwill run the free software Java project as competently as they’ve
\nstewarded the Java language. And in an abstract sense, the license
\nchoice is a declaration from Sun, a contract with the free software
\ncommunity, that they will continue the project honestly and openly.<\/p>\n
The dream-like aura surrounding Monday’s webcast was probably stronger
\nfor me because I’ve been working on libgcj and GNU Classpath for the
\nlast three years. For all that work to result in a complete victory
\nis a wonderful feeling. There is also a tinge of sadness though, that
\nthe GNU Classpath project, along with all or most of the code I wrote
\nfor it, will likely be retired in the coming year. I think GNU
\nClasspath has become a successful free software martyr. (Although
\nparts of the project may rise again in zombie form: could there be a
\nplace for a GTK AWT peerset in the new Java world? ;-)) The GNU
\nClasspath community is great to work in, and I hope our ties remain
\nstrong. I especially look forward to FOSDEM 2007 where I expect
\neveryone, even man-di, to be present for a huge party! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Surprise I was happily surprised on Monday when Sun announced that they would release Java ME, SE and EE under the GPL. Actually, “happily surprised” is an understatement: Sun also adopted the GNU Classpath linking exception! I couldn’t have hoped for a better result. Watching the announcement webcast was a surreal experience. It was as … <\/p>\n