Hi, On Tue, 2003-07-15 at 12:48, Dave Hooper wrote: > In case you're wondering why we're talking about this at all: a while ago, > we didn't mirror the Sun JRE download at freenetproject.org; now we do > that, but apparently the reason there isn't a debian distro of freenet is > because *mirroring Sun's JRE installer is in violation of Sun's licence*. > Or at least this is the impression I received from the previous > discussion. > > So we're now discussing whether we should remove the Sun JRE download from > freenetproject.org; or whether or not this really is a violation of Sun's > licence. > > Anyone: Is that *really* the reason there isn't a debian distro of > freenet? I thought it was rather because Sun JRE was 'non free' in that > it wasn't GPL or Berkeley licenced?
Debian does indeed not include any software that cannot be distributed under the Debian Free Software Guidelines <http://www.debian.org/social_contract> There are some archives though for non-free programs but they don't contain a JRE or SDK either since the package would allow people to install a unbundled (not in combination with any application) JRE, which the JRE license doesn't allow. The license says that the distributor will "agree to defend and indemnify Sun and its licensors from and against any damages, costs, liabilities, settlement amounts and/or expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred in connection with any claim, lawsuit or action by any third party that arises or results from the use or distribution of any and all Programs and/or Software.", which is not something Debian (or Software in the Public interest, the legal entity that distributes Debian) wants to do. And it says that you "do not distribute additional software intended to replace any component(s) of the Software", which is unacceptable since Debian distributes Kaffe, Classpath, Gcj, Fastjar, GJDoc, etc. all free software specifically designed to replace the proprietary implementations. For more (and specifically for a list of free software implementations of java-like environments see the Debian java FAQ: http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-java-faq/ch5.html > > Gcj is a solution to produce executable files...but not for some freenet > > features....probably. > > Actually, we are kindof working towards a GCJ Freenet, kindof. Ideally > we'd like to use a 'free' Java runtime but the alternatives seem to not be > as stable or fully-featured as Sun's, so we're relying on Sun JRE for now. We (GNU Classpath and Kaffe hackers) had a very productive developer meeting at the latest LinuxTag. The topic of java.nio (which is the major missing thing to get Freenet running on a free java-like environment) came up a couple of times. There is already a lot of work done to get this implemented, but of course the last 10%... Please monitor the gcj, classpath and kaffe mailinglist (the projects do work closely together) to see what progress we are making. We can certainly use people to get Freenet working and tested with gcj and/or kaffe when we have all pieces in place. Cheers, Mark _______________________________________________ devl mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hawk.freenetproject.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl
