JDK 1.4 and beyond

[c.rued]

Greg Lewis wrote:
>On Thu, Aug 28, 2003 at 09:57:11AM -0400, c.rued wrote:
>> As of now, if you want the source to a JDK, you have to wait until 
>> it's released.  Has there been any discussion of getting access to 
>> their source repository to get a head-start on development of future
>> JDKs?
>
>We have that access already, through the agreement with the FreeBSD
>Foundation.

I was not aware of that.  It's good to have that option.  Perhaps this
access could be used to gain access to the source of a release before
the source is released via SCSL (assuming there is some sort of tag one
could use to check out a release)?  This should give developers a
head-start of a month or two.

>> Also, has there been any consideration of copying modifications
>> necessary to compile on FreeBSD into Sun's source (that is, assuming 
>> it doesn't make compiling on other platforms impossible)?
>
>Thats up to Sun.  The patches have generally been designed to keep the 
>ability to compile on other platforms intact, so that shouldn't be a
>problem.

I guess I was wondering if this had been discussed with Sun, and
whether there was any plan to do this, or if any of this has actually
occurred.  Also, along the same lines, has there been any interest from
the Sun people in making the BSD JDK an "officially supported" release?

It would be nice if Sun would incorporate the changes made by the 
community in order to make support for *BSD a little easier, even if it
never becomes an "officially supported" platform.

>> It seems to me that doing these two things would significantly 
>> decrease the amount of time necessary for a native JDK.  Any \
>> possibility of either/both of those things occurring?
>
> One has occurred, the other is out of our hands.  However, you miss
> the big kicker with your first question.  Is having access to the 
> repository good thing?  Consider that Blackdown has this access.
> The result is a closed development effort, no source code patches can 
> be released and the binaries can only be released once they've been 
> tested to be compliant.
> Is this what we want for the BSD Java team too?  In your answer take 
> into account the NetBSD and OpenBSD team members who would then have 
> no incentive to participate since they have no binary release license.  
> So, while we have the access, the real question is whether its a good 
> idea to use it.  Its a non-reversible decision too, since once you 
> work with the Sun source you're effectively "tainted" with respect to
> your ability to release source patches under the SCSL.

Excellent points.  I hadn't take all of that into consideration.  Given the licensing situation, I would agree that working with the latest development JDK source is not really desirable.

Would you be "tainted" if you only used the direct repository access to acquire source that will eventually be released under SCSL anyway?  If 
not, it seems like this would be a good way of getting a head-start.

--Chris