[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Oracle Java isn't Free and it's not free, either.

[Jason Stephenson]

Hi,

A Google employee shared this Register article on G+ over the weekend:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/16/oracle_targets_java_users_non_compliance/

I reshared it on G+.

The upshot is if you install Java SE from Oracle then you could be
liable for $40 to $300 in licensing costs to Oracle, depending on what
you install.

There is a way to install it so that you don't owe them anything, but
that way is not the default, of course. You have to disable the
components that Oracle considers to be not free (as in beer). These
include, but may not be limited to, Java SE Advanced Desktop, Java SE
Advanced, and Java SE Suite.

As far as I know, only the Java SE JRE and JDK from Oracle are free (as
in beer).

The above has no direct impact on the use of Java for Hatch. It could
have repercussions for those who install and use Hatch.

I have not looked at the Hatch installer code, but if it does install
Java SE from Oracle, I suggest that we investigate installing only the
JRE from the package.

As an alternative, we could download and install OpenJDK. It is is Free
(as in Free Software) and does not include the non-free components from
Oracle. OpenJDK is the default on most Linux distributions, and there
are OpenJDK packages for Windows, provided by Red Hat, no less:

https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2016/06/27/openjdk-now-available-for-windows/

I have not tried it, and the blog says it is "intended for development
of Middleware applications with Red Hat JBoss Developer Studio." So, it
may not be viable for Hatch. Just the same it may be worth investigating.

I'm not trying to be alarmist as there should be easy solutions to this
situation. I'm also not worried about the future of Evergreen as regards
this issue. I just think that we should be aware and take steps to
prevent any of our users (and possibly the project) from getting into
trouble with Oracle.

Jason