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I understand the classpath exception. But if you look at the opening slides showing evidence Oracle will be presenting [1] (whether taken out of context or not)

I understand the classpath exception. But if you look at the opening slides showing evidence Oracle will be presenting [1] (whether taken out of context or not), it specifically states from a Google email: "… and as far as GPL-ing the VM, everything that is linked with the VM would get infected. The problem with GPL in embedded systems is that it’s viral, and there is no way (for example) OEMs or Carriers to differentiate by adding proprietary works. We are building a platform where the entire purpose is to let people differentiate on top of it." So classpath exception aside (and the first OpenJDK release was after Android was started, but before the above quoted email was sent), they were still afraid of infecting their developers. [1] - http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/features/opening-slides-1592541.pdf http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/features/opening-slides-1... Edit: fixed wording

rbanffy 15y ago
As clever as they may be, they are not always right.
wmf 15y ago
I think that's excessive paranoia on Google's part. It would be interesting to look at actual Android customizations and see if any of them would be affected by a GPLed JVM.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > any of them would be affected by a GPLed JVM Do you mean I can make proprietary Java code GPL'ed by running it on OpenJDK? Wow! That would be great ;-) Unless someone customized the JVM itself, nothing would have to be released under the GPL beyond the modified JVM itself. E-mails like that were probably why Oracle assumed Google can't hire good lawyers.
  - fpgeek 15y ago
    Emails like that are more likely evidence that Google's Android partners can't hire good lawyers (not that we don't have other evidence of that, of course). Google would have to take their concerns seriously regardless of what their own lawyers said so it wouldn't be surprising if their partners' position wound up being Google's baseline.

rbanffy 15y ago

As clever as they may be, they are not always right.

wmf 15y ago

I think that's excessive paranoia on Google's part. It would be interesting to look at actual Android customizations and see if any of them would be affected by a GPLed JVM.

rbanffy 15y ago
> any of them would be affected by a GPLed JVM Do you mean I can make proprietary Java code GPL'ed by running it on OpenJDK? Wow! That would be great ;-) Unless someone customized the JVM itself, nothing would have to be released under the GPL beyond the modified JVM itself. E-mails like that were probably why Oracle assumed Google can't hire good lawyers.
- fpgeek 15y ago
  Emails like that are more likely evidence that Google's Android partners can't hire good lawyers (not that we don't have other evidence of that, of course). Google would have to take their concerns seriously regardless of what their own lawyers said so it wouldn't be surprising if their partners' position wound up being Google's baseline.