The company has also signed Sun’s OpenJDK (Java Development Kit) community technology compatibility kit (TCK) license agreement, giveing the company access to Sun’s test suite. This test suite determines the compliance of an implementation of Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE) platform with Java SE 6 specifications.
The Java SE JDK is software that serves as a basis for desktop Java applications. It includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), along with tools for developing applets and applications in Java.
According to Red Hat officials, this contributor agreement will enable the company to create a fully compatible open source kit that includes JRE for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It will also use Open JDK to optimize its JBoss Enterprise Middleware through a JRE.
As the first major open source software vendor to license the Java SE JDK in support of Java SE compatibility, Red Hat will now align its work on its Iced Tea project with OpenJDK. It will also share its developers’ contributions with Sun as part of the OpenJDK community.
Red Hat has combined Fedora and JBoss.org technologies in a Linux Environment with the IcedTea Project. The project provides free software alternatives for the few remaining proprietary sections in the OpenJDK project.
JBoss middleware, which ships with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, currently includes three different implementations of the Java SE JDK, from IBM, Sun, and BEA Systems. Sun said that it would eventually allow customers to make changes dynamically through an open source version of JDK. Prior to the purchase of JBoss and its middleware based on Java, Sun and Red Hat competed in the market for operating systems.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
