2008/9/13 Andrew John Hughes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > 2008/9/12 Sean Qiu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> 2008/9/12 Anders Kristensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >>> Hi, >>> >>> I'm new to the Harmony project and was wondering about the relationship >>> between Harmony and the GNU Classpath project, e.g.: >>> - How much (if anything) of the Harmony class libraries come from the GNU >>> Classpath project? >> >> None, Harmony is delivered with Apache License V2 [1], while GNU >> Classpath is delivered with GPL. >> These two licenses are incompatible, so they can't adopt each other's >> code at all. >> > > Wrong. GNU Classpath is licensed under the more liberal GPLv2 + > Classpath exception. > > 'As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give > you > permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an > executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent > modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under > terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked > independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that > module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from > or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend > this exception to your version of the library, but you are not > obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this > exception statement from your version.' >
Yes, I forget to mention this exception situation. Thank you for point it out. And you remind me of this blog. http://blogs.sun.com/dagastine/entry/apache_harmony_thanks_for_the So yes, Open JDK can include Harmony code according to this exception. But I don't think there are any exceptions mentioned that we can include any GPL code. Correct me again, if i was wrong :) > IANAL, so I will not comment any more on their respective > compatibility, suffice to say that > I think it would have been possible, given time and effort from those > involved. > > There was much talk about collaboration between the two projects when > Harmony started, > but problems arose. See the mailing list archives for the details, > but from my perspective > I don't believe the new Harmony project did much to engender a good > relationship with the > existing GNU Classpath project > >>> - Do the two efforts continue in parallel or is one emerging as being more >>> likely to flourish and attract future development? >> >> I don't familiar with GNU Classpath, but I know Harmony gradually >> becomes mature. >> Harmony has clear high level roadmap and detailed close goals [2]. >> Harmony has a active community which comprises of active committers >> and contributors [3]. >> > > OpenJDK is likely to attract the most future development. Maybe :) But I hope Harmony to be as popular as OpenJDK. > Most former > GNU Classpath > hackers now work on this, under the IcedTea banner. Some GNU > Classpath development > continues; there should be a 0.98 release soon, which will form part > of GCJ 4.4 as well. > > I definitely think there still should be an independent (i.e. non Sun) > implementation of the JDK, > if just to prove it's possible. It's possible to take a view of > OpenJDK as being an attempt by Sun > to slow such a development; while their RI has been released under the > GPLv2 + Classpath exception (thus > solving the problem of a Free complete JDK), the TCK and the standards > process remains closed. > >>> - If they're both active, which one is more complete? >> >> You can get the api diff from here[4], though the data may be out-of-data. >> Harmony has been improved quite a lot during this period. >> > > The GNU Classpath data here is also outdated. Please refer to the comparisons > on the front page of our website: > http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath which are > live and updated multiple times daily. > >> What's more, Harmony has a virtual machine implementation as well >> which is called DRLVM [5]. >> And Harmony classlib could be integrated with IBM VM or Jrockit VM. >> > > GNU Classpath arose in the late 1990s through a merging of existing > class library > efforts in VMs such as GCJ and Kaffe, to become solely a class library project > used by multiple VMs. One of the advantages of GNU Classpath over the other > two > is a more proven VM interface as a result. It supports GCJ (AOT compilation), > JikesRVM (Java-based), JamVM, Kaffe, CACAO and IKVM.net (.NET-based) > among others > and has a clear well-specified Java-based interface. All those > mentioned are Free software. > Note that the latter two now use OpenJDK (CACAO as well as GNU > Classpath, IKVM.net instead of). > Thank you for your explanation. > For Harmony, your list only includes two Free VMs: DRLVM (which it was > developed for) > and JikesRVM, support for which is still nascent. Both IBM's and > JRockIt are proprietary. > >> >> Correct me if I am wrong :) >> > > I think I did, where you were ;) > Here I am :) I should say thank you for your detailed information about GNU Classpath. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Anders >>> >> >> [1] http://harmony.apache.org/license.html >> [2] http://harmony.apache.org/roadmap.html >> [3] http://harmony.apache.org/contributors.html >> [4] http://www.kaffe.org/~stuart/japi/htmlout/ >> [5] http://harmony.apache.org/subcomponents/drlvm/index.html >> -- >> Best Regards >> Sean, Xiao Xia Qiu >> >> China Software Development Lab, IBM >> > > > > -- > Andrew :-) > > Support Free Java! > Contribute to GNU Classpath and the OpenJDK > http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath > http://openjdk.java.net > > PGP Key: 94EFD9D8 (http://subkeys.pgp.net) > Fingerprint: F8EF F1EA 401E 2E60 15FA 7927 142C 2591 94EF D9D8 > -- Best Regards Sean, Xiao Xia Qiu China Software Development Lab, IBM
