Sun revokes FreeBSD license for Java

[David Gerard]

Ted Mittelstaedt (tedm at toybox.placo.com) [050106 06:29]:

>   It's of course quite legal for end users to download the JDK directly
> from Sun and compile it on FreeBSD themselves and then use it.


The main problem with this approach is that it requires a ridiculous amount
of jumping through hoops - first you have to install the Linux
compatibility interface and libraries (20 megabyte download and a reboot?),
*then* the Linux version of Java (large download) because that's needed to
run Sun conformance tests (you can only use Java to test Java), *then* the
FreeBSD version. Assuming nothing breaks anywhere in the process. It's
ridiculous hair-tearing stuff and led me to formulate: "Proprietary
software isn't just evil, it's STUPID."

(The Linux-compat bit wasn't such a strain for me personally, as my FreeBSD
boxes are workstations and I run things like Firefox Linux nightly builds
routinely. But for a server doing little other than Java, it's a large
amount of cruft to no functional purpose.)


- d.