Blackdown Java: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:56, 10 July 2008

Revision as of 00:14, 29 July 2008

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{{refimprove|date=July 2008}}'''Blackdown Java''' is a port of [[Sun Microsystems]]'s [[Java virtual machine]] to [[Linux]] by a group of volunteers led by [[Karl Asha]]. It predates Sun's official Linux port. It still supports platforms that the official version does not, including [[SPARC]] and [[PowerPC]]. Currently, Blackdown Java supports up to version 1.5 of the Java run-time libraries.

Despite widespread confusion, Blackdown is neither [[free software]] nor [[open-source software]]. The reason that it was the default Java in [[Gentoo Linux]] and many other distributions, is because the binary redistribution policy allows it to be pre-installed or distributed through that distribution's package management system, whereas at the time, Sun Java's binary redistribution policy did not.