Brainstorm

Delivering Java SE to Fremantle

Posted on 2009-10-19 11:24 UTC by Claus Feichtinger. Status: Under consideration, Categories: Desktop, Utilities, System, Programming.

The purpose of this proposal is to assess the demand and determine the best way to deliver a Java SE - runtime for Fremantle / Maemo 5.

Java SE is the runtime intended for Desktop systems, but implementations for Mobile Devices do exist. The possible target audience for a Java SE runtime on Fremantle is considerably smaller than for a Java ME implementation, but many business applications still provide Java interfaces for legacy compatibility. Providing the possibility to run these business applications might lower the barrier for corporations to consider using Maemo 5 in a corporate environment.

Ideally, this brainstorm proposal results in a Java SE Package available in the Fremantle-Repositories for easy distribution through the Maemo 5 App Manager.

The thread that sparked this proposal:
Java for Maemo 5

This is not supposed to be yet another "Nokia should do it" proposal - if you want an implementation, please vote not only for the "Nokia-option", but place a 2nd vote on your favourite community solution so we will know where to invest our time first, should Nokia really decide not to buy an official License.

Solutions for this brainstorm

Solution #1: Nokia provides Java SE

Posted on 2009-10-19 08:56 UTC by Claus Feichtinger.

Nokia buys the needed royalities for providing an official Java SE embedded implementation for the new Platform and delivers it accordingly.

+) Official implementation, official support
-) Probably quite expensive
-) Closed license

Solution #2: Community ports OpenJDK 6 JRE

Posted on 2009-10-19 11:35 UTC by Claus Feichtinger.

OpenJDK 6 JRE (more info) is the open-source variant of Sun's Java SE reference implementation. It utilizes mostly the same codebase as the official implementation, but grants more liberty in the ways it is licensed. It is not full GPL yet though, as there are still binary components present in this distribution.

+) GPL
+) A Debian package for ARM already exists
-) No Maemo community team as of yet
-) No "official" implementation, meaning Nokia cannot advertise Maemo 5 as being "Java compatible".
-) No info regarding the compatibility with Sun's commercial reference implementation

Solution #3: Community revives Jalimo

Posted on 2009-10-19 09:12 UTC by Claus Feichtinger.

Jalimo is a community project aimed at providing a Java implementation for mobile Linux. There are Packages for earlier tablets, but activity decreased in the past months.

+) true GPL
+) known to work with Maemo, older packages available
-) Not much activity lately
-) No "official" implementation, no advertising
-) No info regarding the compatibility

Solution #4: Community ports Iced Tea

Posted on 2009-10-19 11:54 UTC by Claus Feichtinger.

Iced Tea is a temporary fork of OpenJDK 6, utilizing most of its (and, by extension, the official) codebase, while providing open-source alternatives to the still-closed components of OpenJDK.

+) True GPL, no binary components
+) Debian ARM packages for OpenJDK 6 can probably be used
-) No Maemo community team as of yet
-) No "official" implementation, no advertising

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