Erik Trimble wrote: > Andrew John Hughes wrote: >> 2008/6/4 Kelly O'Hair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> >>> Not sure what you mean by the Sun Studio trap. >> >> I'm referring back to the Java trap - before Sun released their JDK >> under the GPL, it was possible to have applications under a Free >> Software license written in Java which couldn't be run in a Free >> environment because they would only work under the proprietary JDK. >> GNU Classpath was the community's attempt to free Java from this >> trap.
>> Only being able to build the OpenJDK using the proprietary Sun >> Studio compiler on Solaris creates a similar issue, though the >> scope of the problem is fortunately more restricted. I'm not sure >> OpenSolaris itself can even be built with GCC, which is an even >> worse issue - it's not truly Free Software if it can only be built >> with proprietary tools. > This is NOT a trap. This is a CHOICE OF PREFERENCE made by the FS > Community. It is no more a trap than using GPL'd programs in > conjunction with the Apache http server is. Just because we don't play > exactly in your world doesn't mean there is a trap. Traps are when you > cannot replace a whole component layer easily with something else. So, > if your GPL'd Java program had to run on a Sun JDK under Solaris, that > would certainly be true. However, you can run your Java program on one > of about 4 major JDKs now, under over a dozen OSes, so that hardly > qualifies as a trap. > > Remember, not everyone wants everything in one particular format (or, > license). We've got end-users who can't stand the GPL, for some _very_ > good reasons. We've got other folks who are sore at us for not using an > MPL-style license. So, I take license-criticism extremely poorly. I don't think he was, actually: he was just talking about not wanting to depend on unfree software; Apache is free software, as is gcc, as is OpenSolaris, as is OpenJDK. He didn't mention the GPL at all; you did. Andrew.
