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I could not find any clear answer about that, but I am developing some Android applications for commercial uses and I do not know how the changement concerning the Oracle JDK License (April 16, 2019) will impact the distribution of my apps:

Do I need to purchase Oracle licence to be able to use JDK 8?

Or is there any agreement between Oracle and Google about that which allows Android developer to use Oracle's JDK without being under Oracle's licences?

I saw that Android Studio uses OpenJDK now. But OpenJDK being licenced under GPLv2, it does not seem to be adapted for commercial uses. But I may be wrong.

I am not very familiar about these licences issues...

Any help, explanation, precision will be welcomed !

Machavity
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Alexandre D.
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1 Answers1

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Summary: Don't worry about Android JDK license

Android Studio uses OpenJDK which is free, open-source and can be used for commercial products.

You don't need to worry about this because all the license problematics for the Android development like IDE, tools, etc.. are managed by Google. (that's why they switched to OpenJDK when Oracle filed suit against Google for using Oracle JDK without license).

You just need to check licenses of third-party tools/libs you use in your apps

MatPag
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  • Thanks for your answer MatPag. So if I install Android Studio, no need to install the JDK through the Oracle's website, right? Does the use of OpenJDK for my Android application automatically apply the GPLv2 licence on them? – Alexandre D. Jul 26 '19 at 13:04
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    1) Yes, you don't need to install the JDK from the Oracle website. 2) Yes, using OpenJDK automatically grants you the ability to create commercial apps without doing anything else – MatPag Jul 26 '19 at 13:05
  • So to conclude, I can create Android apps using OpenJDK without impacting the license of my source code? ie. my application's source code won't be impacted by the GPL license of OpenJDK? – Alexandre D. Jul 26 '19 at 13:09
  • Your application source code is yours, Google is not publishing source code of their Android apps (like Youtube or Gmail), why should we do that? The source code is yours and you decide if put that as open-source somewhere or keep it private – MatPag Jul 26 '19 at 13:12
  • Actually, I understood that if I use a dependency under GPL license, that "contaminates" my source code. I was wondering if developing an application with a SDK (OpenJDK in my case) under GPL license has the same impact. But I cannot find any reference to tell me that it does not... – Alexandre D. Jul 26 '19 at 13:25
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    You just need to think about 1 thing: If you were right, all the source code of the Android apps in the world should be open-source. This is not the case so it's your thinking against 1 million closed source apps :D – MatPag Jul 26 '19 at 13:36
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    Ok, so using OpenJDK does not impact my source code because OpenJDK is not licensed under a plain GPLv2 but under a "GPLv2 with Classpath Exception". Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4143710/3511736 – Alexandre D. Jul 26 '19 at 13:36
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    It's because you are not re-destributing the OpenJDK itself, but the executable it produces – MatPag Jul 26 '19 at 13:39