Re: getting to 5.x binary packages

[Ian Grigg <iang@xxxxxxxx>]

Matthew Seaman wrote:

> In order for the FreeBSD Foundation to be licensed to distribute a
> pre-compiled J2SE 1.4.2 JDK or JRE freely the FreeBSD port would first
> have to pass Sun's compliance testing -- I believe that it has been
> stated that the jdk-1.4.2 port would pass in it's current state
> without any trouble at all -- but it takes money to get everything
> formally tested, and then the licensing terms have to be negotiated,
> again requiring some expenditure on lawyers etc.  For most
> corporations I don't think the costs would be particularly onerous.
> For an all volunteer project like FreeBSD they're right out of the
> question unless a generous donor can be found.

Not that I know that donor, but has anyone ever come
across or done a budget for that process?  It would
be interesting to know, not only for finding donors,
but also as a pointer to Sun.

iang

( It is issues like this that make Sun's claim
that Java is write-once-run-anywhere so ridiculous.

In practice, Java's spread is slowed dramatically by
these sorts of tactics, and a lot of circumstances
can't tell the difference between Microsoft's "guarunteed
on our platform" and Sun's "maybe on three platforms"
approach.

Java still seems to be the best language for general
purpose server programming, but I think it would be
all over if Microsoft went cross platform in a serious
fashion. )