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| Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 21 2012 @ 04:59 PM EDT |
Scroll down to the second to last paragraph
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57417898-94/google-sun-court-
docs-reveal-long-java-licensing-dance/?
tag=rb_content;contentBody
Clive.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: jbb on Saturday, April 21 2012 @ 06:18 PM EDT |
| As I've explained elsewhere, these core API libraries are part of the glue
between the raw hardware/OS and applications written in the Java language. The
VM is as hardware agnostic as possible. If you have it compiled for the type of
CPU you are using then you should be good to go. All the hardware customization
happens in these API libraries. That is why Google could honestly say Java
language programs are "deaf, dumb, and blind" without the core APIs.
The
only other place hardware customization can take place in Android is in Linux
device drivers. The licensing situation for linux device drivers is unclear.
For example, Nvidia ships closed source linux drivers while many significant
kernel devs think that violates their GPL license on the kernel. If
manufacturers feel they need a rock-solid place they can hide their secret sauce
hardware source then you have two options:
- Use a BSD or other non-Free
kernel
- Use non-Free core APIs
Since the core APIs are so intertwined,
it is obvious that you would want a matched set license-wise in order to make
things crystal clear and avoid possible legal wrangles down the road. Likewise,
you want to avoid putting your secret sauce in Linux drivers. I don't know what
the Android policy is on licensing Linux drivers but it is possible that one day
the drivers will be forced be licensed under the GPL. The solution is to make
the drivers as dumb as possible and put the secret sauce in the API libraries.
Even if it is deemed that APIs themselves cannot be protected by copyright,
everyone agrees that the implementation code can which is why Google chose to
use Harmony with its permissive Apache-2 license.
---
Our
job is to remind ourselves that there are more contexts than the one we’re in
now — the one that we think is reality.
-- Alan Kay [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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