Statement by the ASF Board on recent Java-related events

As reported recently in the news and elsewhere, there are two issues currently facing the Foundation that merit a response from the ASF. 

At the last JCP Executive Committee meeting in Bonn, Germany, Oracle announced that it will not offer a TCK license for Java SE (for the Apache Harmony project) without the so-called "Field of Use" (FOU) restriction.  We believe that this is a final decision from Oracle and that there are no further opportunities for productive discussion on this topic. 

To that end, the Apache Harmony project is evaluating its project goals and future, as Oracle's decision blocks Harmony from achieving the original community goal of a TCK-tested, spec-compliant, Apache-licensed implementation of Java SE.  The ASF fully supports the Apache Harmony community as it moves forward, past this regretful decision on the part of Oracle.  With respect to the many other projects in the ASF that implement JSRs, we remain committed to those projects as they are, and any new projects that wish to implement JSRs that have appropriate TCK licensing terms.

Related to Oracle's announcement, the IBM Corporation made a decision to reduce its level of contribution to the Apache Harmony project and there has been speculation regarding what the ASF might do as a result.  Apache projects are intentionally structured around a diverse set of contributors in order to limit the effect of the loss of a contributor, no matter how prominent.  The remaining contributors to the Apache Harmony project - including IBM employees that choose to participate on their own time - will continue with the project.  We thank IBM Corporation for their contributions to Apache Harmony, and wish them well in their future endeavors in open source Java.

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Posted at 11:32PM Oct 21, 2010 by Sally in General  |  Comments [6]  |