Free Java implementations are software projects that reimplement Sun's Java technologies and are distributed under free software licences, thus making them free software / open source software. Java refers to a number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems (the Javaâ„¢ technology) that together provide a system for developing and deploying cross-platform applications. ... Free software is software which grants recipients the freedom to modify and redistribute the software. ... This article is about free software as defined by the sociopolitical free software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... ...

As of early 2007, Sun's Java is non-free software, however, in November 13, 2006, Sun announced that they would soon release their Java implementation as free software under the GNU General Public License. Proprietary software is a pejorative term used by the Free Software Foundation to describe software in which the user does not control what it does or cannot study or edit the code, in contrast to free software. ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ...

Virtual machines or runtimes

Advocates of free and open source software refer to free or open source Java virtual machine software as free runtimes or free Java runtimes^[1]. Examples of free runtimes include Kaffe, SableVM, gcj, and many others. Most free runtimes use GNU Classpath as their class library. This article is about free software as defined by the sociopolitical free software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... A Java Virtual Machine (JVM), originally developed by Sun Microsystems, is a virtual machine that executes Java bytecode. ... Kaffe is a clean room design of a Java Virtual Machine. ... SableVM is a clean room implementation of Java bytecode interpreter implementing the Java virtual machine specification, second edition. ... The GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) is a compiler for the Java programming language that is part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). ... This is a list of Java Virtual Machines. ... GNU Classpath is a project aiming to create a free implementation of the standard class library for the Java programming language. ...

Some advocates in this movement prefer not to use the term "Java" as it has trademark issues associated with it. Hence, even though it is a "free Java movement", the term "free Java runtimes" is avoided by them. A trademark or trade mark[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by an individual, business organization or other legal entity to uniquely identify the source of its products and/or services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. ...

Class library

GNU Classpath is the main free software class library for Java. GNU Classpath is a project aiming to create a free implementation of the standard class library for the Java programming language. ...

Compilers

See also: GNU Compiler for Java

Several Java-compliant compilers exist as free software, most notably the GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ), but also Jikes and the Eclipse Java Compiler. The GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) is a free software compiler for the Java programming language that is part of the GNU Compiler Collection. ... This article is about the computing term. ... The GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) is a free software compiler for the Java programming language that is part of the GNU Compiler Collection. ... Jikes is an open source Java compiler. ...

Application software

• OpenOffice.org can run with GCJ
• Azureus can run with GCJ

OpenOffice. ... Azureus is a Java-based BitTorrent client, with support for I2P and Tor anonymous communication protocols. ...

References

1. ^ Until November 2006, this was contrasted with the proprietary nature of Sun Microsystems' "Java runtime" offerings. Beginning in 13 November 2006, Sun made it's Virtual Machine, HotSpot, and the associated compiler, Javac, open-sourced under the GPL

Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... November 13 is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 48 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... HotSpot is the primary Java Virtual Machine for desktops and servers produced by Sun Microsystems. ... In computing, a Java compiler is a computer program that translates programs in Java to Java byte-code. ... The GNU logo For other uses of GPL, see GPL (disambiguation). ...

See also

Free software Portal

• List of Java virtual machines
• GCJ
• GNU Interpreter for Java (GIJ)

Image File history File links Portal. ... This is a list of Java Virtual Machines. ... The GNU Compiler for Java (GCJ) is a compiler for the Java programming language that is part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). ...

External links

• Java Trademark Issues
• Free But Shackled - The Java Trap
• Escaping the Java Trap: A practical road map to the Free Software and Open Source alternatives