CODEWITHSUNDEEP
oracle-databasejava-8jvmjava
vinay
vinay

Reputation: 83

can i implement Openjdk and create a new JDK which is redistributable?, without passing tests of tck or any special license?

Can i implement OpenJdk and create my own JDK and redistribute it? without passing tests of Technology Compatibility Kit(TCK) or does it require any special license to be called it as JDK?

I just found that many of the third party vendors of JDK are written on top of OpenJdk by doing tweak changes, do they require any TCK (or) License for their Redistributable JDK ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 422

Answers (1)

omajid
omajid

Reputation: 15223

IANAL. I have been working with OpenJDK for a while, but I don't understand all the legalities myself. Here's my understanding.

To be able to call something "Java" requires getting a license from the term "Java" which is owned by Oracle.

The TCK is not part of OpenJDK itself. It's a separate product available under a non-Free license. The process to get a TCK for OpenJDK is avialable here: http://openjdk.java.net/groups/conformance/JckAccess/ but I have heard stories where actually getting access is non-trivial. Your experience may vary.

You can definitely take OpenJDK modify it and release the results, claiming it is a fork of OpenJDK. This is pretty much what every Linux distribution does - they take OpenJDK and patch it (even if it's minor changes) and then build/release it. You can't call it "Java" unless you have Oracle's approval and you can't claim it has passed the TCK unless it actually has.

As far as I know, every single vendor that redistributes something and calls it Java has passed the TCK and has permission to call it "Java".

As for taking OpenJDK source, there's a long explanation here. I am 99.9% sure every single implementation uses the OpenJDK class libraries, at least. And every single OpenJDK contributor agrees to the Oracle Contributor Agreement which lets Oracle re-license OpenJDK under another license. So Oracle and other third party non-OpenJDK vendors can take OpenJDK, get a license from Oracle and publish their JDK under a license that's not the OpenJDK license.

Upvotes: 1

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