[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: [Live-demo] Java apps: better get working on your OpenJDK port ...

[Cameron Shorter]

I'm forwarding this email onto the OSGeo-Discuss list, as Hamish has 
identified the high impact implications of Sun/Oracle licencing, which 
seems to imply that most OSGeo java based projects will need to start 
supporting OpenJDK if they wish to support most users on linux based 
operating systems.

...

As outlined by Hamish below, the Sun/Oracle Java cannot legally be 
installed using ubuntu installers - people will need to download from 
the Oracle website instead.
We possibly could use Sun Java with the next, March 2012 based OSGeo 5.5 
release (as we are basing upon the old Xubuntu 11.04), but we would 
probably not be able to legally include any java based security updates.

For OSGeo-Live 6, for FOSS4G 2012 in Sept, we will likely only have the 
option of using OpenJDK and not Sun-Java.

I'd like to hear advice from each Java based projects as to the 
feasibility of migrating to OpenJDK, and what you recommend we do on the 
OSGeo-Live project.

Please respond on the live-demo at lists.osgeo.org list.


On 21/12/2011 9:53 AM, Hamish wrote:
> Hi,
>
> as we suspected would happen eventually, Oracle is
> pulling the rug out and retiring their Java-6 Open
> Distribution license, so in future end-users will
> have to download it themselves. thus anything which
> doesn't work with OpenJDK is going to be SOL very
> soon as we can't legally ship Sun's Java6 anymore.
> dunno if that also applies to the JAI library
> which is in the same license boat.
>
> on the plus side:
> -OpenJDK has come a really long way recently
> -hey maybe this frees us up some disc space
>
> I don't know if it will still be in the 11.04 repos
> (as anything other than a wrapper package that says
> it isn't there any more) by the time of our final
> build; the java browser plugin is already disabled
> in 10.04LTS+ as ubuntu aren't allowed to distribute
> bug fixes to known security holes in it.
>
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2011-December/001528.html 
>
>
> http://robilad.livejournal.com/90792.html
>
>
> If you want to live dangerously and hold on to what
> you've got, before it gets removed by a security
> update:
>
> sudo aptitude hold sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre  sun-java6-jdk
>
> sudo su
> echo "sun-java6-jdk hold" | dpkg --set-selections
> echo "sun-java6-jre hold" | dpkg --set-selections
> echo "sun-java6-bin hold" | dpkg --set-selections
>
> (I consider the browser plugin to be a no-hoper so
> leave it out of the above)
>
>
> have fun,
> Hamish
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-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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