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GPL libraries in a JVM ....GPL libraries in a JVM ....Posted Aug 17, 2006 1:50 UTC (Thu) by yodermk (subscriber, #3803)Parent article: Coming soon: a free Java
Just thinking out loud here, but would running Classpath under a non-GPL JVM *really* violate the GPL? After all, the code is not really being linked together. Since there are various JVMs and various classpath implementations, one could reasonably argue that they are not intrinsically linked together.
Maybe it doesn't even matter, assuming Sun's class libraries are open sourced as well.
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GPL libraries in a JVM .... Posted Aug 17, 2006 2:03 UTC (Thu) by scruffie (subscriber, #5704) [Link] The value of open-sourcing Sun's Java is not in the JVM (there's several projects that have good ones), but in the Java class libraries. The concern would be how those are compatible with the GPL.
GPL libraries in a JVM .... Posted Aug 17, 2006 4:39 UTC (Thu) by jamesh (subscriber, #1159) [Link] The GNU Classpath is licensed under GPL + exception. So running GNU classpath against a non-GPL JVM is not a problem. The issue here is that Sun's JVM also comes with a class library implementing the same interfaces as GNU Classpath. So license compatibility only really becomes an issue if you want to try and merge the best features of both class libraries together since the exception would not apply.
GPL libraries in a JVM .... Posted Aug 17, 2006 8:40 UTC (Thu) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link] Interesting point. It's a bit strange though to see this casual mixing of the terms "running", "linking" and "distributing" as if there's no difference. This is all explained in the first paragraphs of the GPLv2.I thought I'd mention that, since the GPL, and therefore the exception made for GNU Classpath, addresses exactly this point. ;-) You could *run* (and therefore possibly link) GNU Classpath with any JVM with or without the exception, for instance. You just might not be allowed to distribute it.
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