Sun Microsystems announced it is releasing its implementations of Java technology as free software under the GNU General Public License version two (GPLv2). The first pieces of source code for Sun's implementation of Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE) are available and a buildable implementation of Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME). In addition, Sun is adding the GPLv2 license to Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE), which has been available for over a year under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) through Project GlassFish.

This announcement represents one of the largest source code contributions under the GPL license (under which the GNU/Linux operating system is also distributed) and the open sourcing of one of the industry's most significant and pervasive software platforms. By open sourcing Java software, while offering commercial products with indemnity for our customers, Sun expects Java technology to become even more pervasive.

"By open sourcing Sun's implementation of Java technology, we will inspire a new phase of developer collaboration and innovation using the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and expect the Java platform to be the foundation infrastructure for next generation Internet, desktop, mobile and enterprise applications," said Rich Green, executive vice president of Software at Sun. "With the Java Development Kit (JDK) released as free software under the GPL, Sun will be working closely with distributors of the GNU/Linux operating system, who will soon be able to include the JDK as part of the open source repositories that are commonly included with GNU/Linux distributions."

Sun is releasing three significant software components for the ongoing development of Sun's open source implementation of Java SE in the Java.net community: Java HotSpot technology, the Java programming language compiler (javac) and JavaHelp software. Sun expects to release a buildable JDK in the first quarter of 2007, following established free software community practices for licensing virtual machines and their associated libraries.

 Java HotSpot technology and javac are two of the most important elements of Java SE; Java HotSpot technology is the Sun implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the core component of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which translates Java code to the specific operating system and chip architecture, allowing Java software to run everywhere and javac is the compiler that analyzes Java source code for correctness and generates proper bytecodes for execution. JavaHelp software is the documentation system to complement the JDK.