Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

Posted Oct 1, 2015 10:14 UTC (Thu) by mjthayer (guest, #39183)
In reply to: Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base by pabs
Parent article: Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

This is probably not what you want to hear, but we are as open with security issues as Oracle's security policy allows. Since Oracle develops VirtualBox I'm afraid their policy applies to its development.

Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

Posted Oct 2, 2015 9:34 UTC (Fri) by ewan (guest, #5533) [Link]

The suggestion that Oracle would be interested in working well with anyone was clearly a joke.

Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

Posted Oct 8, 2015 14:58 UTC (Thu) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link] (2 responses)

You could either push Oracle to fix their security policies or move away from their sphere of influence.

Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

Posted Oct 9, 2015 3:29 UTC (Fri) by linuxrocks123 (subscriber, #34648) [Link] (1 responses)

Well, Oracle probably pays him, so "moving away from Oracle's sphere of influence" probably isn't really an option.

Short list of Oracle's Sun acquisitions and what's happened since:
1. Java: Main distribution still under Oracle's control
2. Solaris: un-open-sourced by Oracle; IllumOS fork "won" by virtue of being only remaining option
3. MySQL: developer revolt; MariaDB fork won
4. OpenOffice: developer revolt; LibreOffice fork won
5. Hudson: developer revolt; Jenkins fork won
6. VirtualBox: Oracle still in control

So, of those six OSS projects, Oracle has managed to alienate the communities of three and unsuccessfully attempted to outright kill one. Good job, Oracle.

Oracle OSS is dying. Java and VirtualBox are all that remains. Red ink flows like a river of blood ;)

But, Java and VirtualBox are probably still around because Oracle pays most of the developers. So, if we want those projects to be better governed, someone will need to step forward to hire those guys away or hire new guys to replace them. Java is likely recognized as "too big to fail" by Oracle, so their funding is why they're in control, and VirtualBox is probably just basically on ice and no one has cared enough to fork it yet. Both of those situations could change in time -- but, without some catalyst, probably won't change any time soon.

Debian dropping the Linux Standard Base

Posted Oct 9, 2015 15:43 UTC (Fri) by orclev (guest, #104847) [Link]

Technically you're correct on 1, but from a practical standpoint OpenJDK is making significant inroads. Most of the new Java development is heading to OpenJDK, for recent JDK releases people seem to favor OpenJDK over Oracle JDK, and a lot of distros are distributing OpenJDK as the de facto standard. Based on that I'd argue the fight is still ongoing in the case of Java, but the open version is definitely looking good to score the win.

The fact that the standards process still involves Oracle in any significant fashion I think is largely a red herring, if OpenJDK decided to deviate from Oracle I suspect most developers would go with it and abandon Oracle JDK. The only really troubling part there is the recent court case between Google and Oracle over the copyright-abiltity of the Java API, which might prove troublesome for OpenJDK should they decide to part ways with Oracle entirely.