Home/ Questions/Q 8999513
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-06-16T00:11:25+00:00

I’m working on an open-source compiler (GPLv2) that compiles to the JVM, and I

  • 0

I’m working on an open-source compiler (GPLv2) that compiles to the JVM, and I wanted to be able to distribute Java’s documentation together with the compiler and the java external classes definitions. How is Java’s documentation license in this manner? If it’s restrictive, can I use OpenJDK’s documentation?

For what I’ve read at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/redist-137594.html, it seems that Oracle doesn’t allow us to redistribute the API documentation. But what about OpenJDK?

Thank you!

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    First, I am not a lawyer and this post should not be taken as legal advice.

    Second, you are asking for legal advice. You need legal counsel. Get a lawyer. A bunch of (semi)anonymous people on the internet should not be counseled for legal advice. The law is often a parallel universe with complicated rules that do not always match our own, and words do not always mean what you think they mean. You need an expert to help you through this.

    Third, you should review the license provided by the source. You’ve done that for Oracle, but you don’t appear to have done that for OpenJDK. Most of their licensing apears to be at http://openjdk.java.net/legal/ , though I didn’t see anything specific about documentation. JavaDoc is embedded in the source, and each source file is individually licensed (as per their FAQ)… there may be something along those lines, and there may not.

    • 0