Free Java implementations

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This article is about "free software" as defined by the sociopolitical free software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. For other uses, see free software (disambiguation).

Free Java implementations are software that implements Java technologies under Free software and open source licenses.

It should be noted that since November 13, 2006, Sun has made Java open source, releasing its source code under a GPL license. When the whole Sun's Java source code will be released under this license, Sun's implementation will also be free.

1 Virtual machines or runtimes
2 Class library
3 Compilers
4 Application software
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] 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. This is contrasted with the proprietary nature of Sun Microsystems' "Java runtime" offerings. Examples of free runtimes include Kaffe, SableVM, gcj, and many others. Most free runtimes use GNU Classpath as their class library.

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.