Apache foundation resigns from Java community

IDG News Service - Protesting what it perceives as Oracle's undue control of Java, the Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat from the Java SE/EE Executive Committee, the organization announced Wednesday.

"The commercial concerns of a single entity, Oracle, will continue to seriously interfere with and bias the transparent governance of the ecosystem," an unsigned blog entry from the foundation states.

The entry also charged that JCP (Java Community Process) "is not an open specification process -- that Java specifications are proprietary technology that must be licensed directly from the spec lead under whatever terms the spec lead chooses."

Earlier this week, the Java Executive Committee had approved the specifications for Java SE (Standard Edition) 7 and Java SE 8. The ASF had stated that it would resign from the Java EC (Executive Committee) should the JCP pass Java 7 and Oracle not lift its restrictions placed on the Java Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK), which the ASF uses to test compliance of its own Apache Harmony open-source Java run-time against the Java standard. The restrictions bar the open-source software's use on mobile platforms.

The ASF sponsors more than 100 open-source projects that use or support Java in some form, including Apache Tomcat, Ant and Geronimo, Velocity. The organization did not specify if it plans to continue work on Harmony.

Oracle declined to comment.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com