Java compatibility? (was Re: Not a bash, just the facts)

[Dalibor Topic]

Derek Broughton <news <at> pointerstop.ca> writes:

> > Nit-pick:
> > 
> > Strictly speaking Kaffe and gcj are not Java, in the same way that Mesa
> > is not OpenGL. Java is a specification (like C and C++) with a
> > compliance process. You can't call a compliler or vm "Java" until it
> > passes the compliance test. Kaffe and gcj haven't yet.
> 
> True, and they're never likely to shell out the money required to actually
> be certified.

Money is less of a problem, due to the TCK Scholarship effort, which can give
open source projects Sun really likes gratis access to the test suites for JSRs
they want to implement.

There are some interesting other (legal) problems, though. The ASF has a nice
page on the Jakarta site describing the associated NDAs and other limitations.
See http://jakarta.apache.org/site/jspa-position.html for details.

That is also the main difference between the W3C, where usually both the
standards and the compatibility test suites are freely available to the general
public, and something like the JCP, where they are not, and test suite access is
used as a tool to protect business interests.

There is no single vendor controlling the W3C, and the contrast to the JCP is
striking.

cheers,
dalibor topic