ciaran
|
13. noviembre 2006
|
about:
gpl , java , Sun
Two positive aspects of choosing the GPL for Sun's Java are that it is a copyleft licence, and that it means Sun's project will be able to share code with the GNU Compiler for Java and GNU Classpath.
Sun have released under version 2 of the GPL, but have said that they will consider version 3 when it is finalised. Since GPLv3 should be compatible with the Apache licence, this would mean the above Java projects could also share code with the Apache Harmony project (which was launched and chose its licence after GNU Classpath and GCJ were working under the GPL).
Sun's webcast announcement was made in a format that requires proprietary software, but the video will be made available in a free format in the near future. UPDATE: Ogg Theora videos are there now.
Richard Stallman is there in the webcast. Someone has re-encoded that file to a format that can be played with a free software video player: here it is
It's only a minute, so here's a transcript:
The GNU general public licence is the most popular and the most
widely used software licence, used for some 70% of all free
software packages. The special thing about this licence is that it's
a copyleft licence. That is to say, all versions of the program
must carry this licence. So the freedoms that the GNU GPL gives to
the users must reach all the users of the program, and that's the
purpose for which I wrote it. To ensure that all users of the
software have the freedom that users should have.
I think Sun has, well, with this contribution, have contributed more
than any other company to the free software community in the form of
software. And it shows leadership. It's an example that I hope
others will follow.
UPDATE: Some people have asked how the developers of free software Java implementations feel about this. I heard from a GNU Classpath developer "boy are we happy hackers now!". Their positive comments can be read at http://planet.classpath.org/.
