On Mon, 17 May 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi > I am given to understand that someone has found a problem in the license of > jdk, to the point that same person finds that debian cannot distribute > the jdk at all. I was told that the problem found in the license has > existed for a long time.
This is true. I did confirm this on IRC today. The JDK specifically states that you may not redistribute it in part, or in it's entirety, outside a single organization, with or without any other software, flat out NO, Period. > If this is the case, > WHY is a jdk that doesn't even work in potato? By precisely the same token, > why is there a jdk in ANY debian dist?? Is there a difference in the > license between versions? Has anyone talked to Sun? I don't know whether or not there is; if somebody could confirm/deny this, it would be appreciated. > If this is NOT the case, > Can this be resolved quickly please? I would imagine that it is the > intent of Sun that Java in its pure form would make it big. I have a > few java projects that I'm taking off the back burner presently, and > now this. > Inquiring, jdk-using minds want to know. Well. Unfortunately, after checking things over with our lawyer at work (he went over the license briefly) this is the only viable solution: 1) change the license. 2) *IMMEDIATELY* remove *ALL* jdk packages from *ALL* maintained Debian distributions. Basically, we're in BLATANT violation of the license currently. It states quite clearly that redistribution is prohibited. So, plain and simple, we're shit out of luck. As someone else pointed out, Kaffe is just as good, with better response. But either way, we have to lose jdk or convince Sun to grant us special permission to redistribute. -Phillip R. Jaenke, Head Unix Guru, Unicent Telecom 216-344-2603 / ~9a->~5p Eastern -> Pester Me! --- I WILL NOT BE IN MY OFFICE ON MEMORIAL DAY. :P ---
