As more direct examples than Jython:

gjdoc implements javadoc.  If a user installs a
non-natively-gcj-compiled gjdoc and the Sun Java packages, and then runs
gjdoc, it will run gjdoc with the Sun Java packages.  That looks very
much like a violation of DLJ clause 2 (c).

jikes-sun implements a javac compiler, and uses the Sun JDK.

Any libfoo-java package in Debian will run with the current installed
JDK.  Thus, any libfoo-java package in Debian which implements "the same
or similar functionality" as Sun Java causes Debian to violate the
license on Sun Java.  Obvious examples include libswingwt-java (which
implements much of the Swing API), libcharva1-java, libcommons-*-java
("similar functionality"), Java XML processing tools that implement the
standard APIs, libgnu-regexp-java (since, if I recall correctly, Sun
Java includes regular expression handling), liboro-java (same reason),
libregexp-java (same reason), libgetenv-java (specifically notes itself
as a replacement for java.lang.System.getenv), and probably others.

Most of these issues would go away if DLJ 2 (c) limited itself to
software which replaces Sun's java.* or javax.* APIs; since Sun Java
prevents non-Sun software from doing so unless you use -bootclasspath,
Debian need only ensure that nothing invokes Sun Java with
-bootclasspath.  This does not handle the case of running software like
gjdoc with Sun Java; to handle this, the clause could limit itself to
software which provides binaries with the same names, and then implement
the planned solution of preventing Sun Java from running with any of the
java alternatives set to software from other packages.  Software like
jikes-sun which explicitly makes use of Sun Java components may still
violate the DLJ even with these measures in place, but packages in
contrib take their chances about remaining distributable; such packages
may need to declare conflicts, or this package may need to declare
conflicts on them.

Alternatively, this package could conflict with any and all software in
Debian considered objectionable to DLJ clause 2 (c), but this seems like
an unmaintainable option.

- Josh Triplett

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

Reply via email to