Despite the Apache Software Foundation’s threat to leave the Java Community Process (JCP) if it does not receive a test kit from Oracle, Oracle has issued a statement indicating its intent to move Java forward apparently with or without Apache.
In a statement issued Nov. 15 statement, Don Deutsch, vice president of standards and architecture, at Oracle, said right now the “priority” for Oracle is to “move Java forward.”
Moreover, Deutsch said the “recently released statement by the ASF Board with regard to their participation in the JCP calling for EC [executive committee] members to vote against SE7 [Java Platform, Standard Edition 7] is a call for continued delay and stagnation of the past several years.”
Deutsch’s statement, which came in a post by Henrik Stahl, Oracle’s manager of Java platforms, also said, “We would encourage Apache to reconsider their position and work together with Oracle and the community at large to collectively move Java forward. Oracle provides TCK [Test Compatibility Kit] licenses under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms consistent with its obligations under the JSPA [Java Specification Participation Agreement].”
Oracle is essentially asking ASF to reconsider its position regarding quitting the JCP and encouraging others to vote against Java 7, but does not clearly address the issue of granting Apache the TCK for its Harmony open-source implementation of Java. There is no mention of a quid pro quo or anything – just the mention of “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.” Yet, ASF maintains that Oracle is simply trying to restrict Harmony from being distributed under an open source license.
Meanwhile, in his response, Deutsch also said, “Oracle believes that with EC approval to initiate the SE7 and SE8 JSRs [Java Specification requests], the Java community can get on with the important work of driving forward Java SE and other standards in open, transparent, consensus-driven expert groups.”