GPL’d Java?

Software folk are a-twitter over news that Sun is going to pick GPL as the license for J2SE and J2ME. I have a couple initial thoughts on why this is fantastic.

First, choosing GPL over Yet Another Open Source License (like Sun’s CDDL) allows seamless integration with many existing open source libraries and allows projects like GNU gcj to start plugging in immediately. The open source Java world is abound with quality compilers and JVMs: we just need the freakin’ libraries. Anyway, mucking up the open source world further with another license (especially one that is incompatible with the GPL) is something we just don’t need. Thanks for choosing wisely, Sun.

In addition, by choosing the GPL, Sun forces all contributors to the Java libraries to give their contributions back to the community. This is not only good from a free/libre open source software perspective; it’s also good from the perspective that forks of Java will be less likely (especially proprietary forks). I mean, I’m all about forking if it’s justified, but we certainly don’t want tens of Java forks out there, all with their inevitable incompatibilities. We all know that “Write Once, Run Everywhere” is a myth. We don’t want to make it any worse, even if it means that Sun will still maintain a tight grip on Java.