Re:JDK 21 Release Notes
by freeone3000 on Tuesday September 19, 2023 @12:04PM
(#37571952)
From the other website, it’s Oracle software under the GPLv2. From Oracle, it’s under the Oracle Binary Code License for Java (https://www.oracle.com/ca-en/downloads/licenses/binary-code-...). These are NOT the same license. The GPL, for instance, does not allow after-the-fact fees.
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Oracle OpenJDK: https://jdk.java.net (GPLv2 + Classpath Exception)
Oracle JDK: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/ (Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions)
The license you linked does not apply to current JDK versions at all.
Hmm I think you are not right. If you go to https://jdk.java.net/21/, the first sentence says that it is GPLv2 (+ Classpath exception, whatever that is).
> Classpath exception, whatever that is
GPL is a copyleft license, so if you would take linux kernel (same license), added some patches to it and you would distribute the resulting software, you would have to make sure your sources are available.
This would make Java as a runtime a very bad target for any company - they don’t want to share their application code - hence the classpath exception, giving you basically a boundary over which the copyleft doesn’t propagate over.
But the JVM itself still benefits from any updates made by any company.
> hence the classpath exception, giving you basically a boundary over which the copyleft doesn’t propagate over.
Oooh that makes sense, thanks for clarifying this!