[OSM-talk] SUN Java released under GPL

[Nick Hill]

WHOOPPEEE!

Sun has finally released Java under the GNU GPL. This comes a littel over 2 
years after SUN made it possible for third party authors to make free 
implementations of Java.

We should really thank the developers of GNU classpath and for the Apache Java 
project for providing much of the impetus behind the release of Java under the 
GNU GPL.

I look forward to GNU/Linux distributions imminently coming complete with a full 
and complete implementaiton of Java. This opens the way to distribute CDs of 
bootable Linux with all the tools necessary to use openstreetmap, pre-configured.

This also means Josm no longer requires a non-free codebase to run. The entire 
codebase is now available under the same GNU GPL. Josm can now theoretically be 
built as a legal executable.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6857451192.html