why do people use Azul’s Zulu 9.0.0.15 release of OpenJDK instead of JDK downloaded from oracle.com? I came across this OpenJDK in the Effective java book and haven't tried this open jdk before. Is this because Oracle made the JDK commercial?
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why do people use Azul’s Zulu 9.0.0.15 release of OpenJDK instead of JDK downloaded from oracle.com?
In short, there is no version of Java 9 freely supported by Oracle. You can download the last free version from Oracle.
From March 2019, Oracle will only give free support for Java 12 (for 6 months). Oracle will provide free support for the latest version for the first 6 months of release. However, there are other organisations, like Azul, which provide commercially supported releases from Java 8. To get Oracle's supported releases you need to pay a subscription.
Other organisations such as AdoptJDK and RedHat have their own releases.
For more information
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/tech/eol-135779.html
Is this because Oracle made the JDK commercial?
The OpenJDK has been around since Java 6, but there were some differences and not a strong reason for many to shift versions.
From Java 11, the main difference between OpenJDK and Oracle Java 11 is the installer.
Hopefully, we will see more companies paying for support for the products they rely on to help make money, but also see a variety of options for free use in a secure way.
Peter Lawrey
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I still don't get it. Azul also provides non-free support. Then, what's the difference? Cheaper? or supporting old versions that Oracle doesn't support any more? – c-an Jul 06 '20 at 08:04
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There are a few OpenJDK's out there. The official Open JDK and Oracle's JDK are based on the same code but have different licensing models. The main reason for creating them was to tweak some parts of the code to better handle a part of the API that you think should work differently.
For example, let's say you are a company that uses JAVA and notices that some part of the API works to slowly for your needs. You then can try to improve it and submit it to be part of the Oracle OpenJDK. But it could be rejected or the time it takes for it to be approved takes too long. You might opt to just branch the OpenJDK to make your own version.
At the moment Oracle is going to stop giving its own implementation of the JDK for free but it its version of OpenJDK will remain open and free.
If you read here you will see that Zulu too is just OpenJDK certified and promised to be maintained. My guess is that the company is just using OpenJDK to give better service to its subscribers so they will get notified when new fixes and patches become available to the general public. I don't think they change anything in the JDK but just create custom delivery tools around it.
Itamar Kerbel
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There will be no free LTS release from Oracle as of JDK 11 and that JDK 8 public updates (for commercial users) end in Jan 2019; we are seeing a lot of interest in Zulu.
Here is what is Oracle have announced.
There are now two binaries available from Oracle: the traditional Oracle JDK (java.oracle.com) which is provided under the Oracle Binary Code License (with field-of-use restrictions). There is also now an OpenJDK binary (jdk.java.net) released under the GPLv2 with CPE license.
As of JDK 11, the Oracle JDK will still be available for download and can be used in development and testing for free. If you want to deploy it into production, you will need a commercial support contract with Oracle. The OpenJDK binaries are free, but every release (including those Oracle designate LTS) will only have updates available for six months (until the next JDK release).
kars89
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does it pose a threat for companies to move to other open source language? What do u think would be the impact of making it commercial? – Prabhu Nov 15 '18 at 07:04