Sun Microsystems on Thursday is announcing availability of OpenJDK Community Technology Compatibility Kit License, providing access to compatibility tests for open-source Java implementations. The release enables the community at large to certify "write once, run anywhere" compatability for Java, Sun said. The license is for the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK), which features tests, tools and documentation to deter Sun Microsystems on Thursday is announcing availability of OpenJDK Community Technology Compatibility Kit License, providing access to compatibility tests for open-source Java implementations.The release enables the community at large to certify “write once, run anywhere” compatability for Java, Sun said. The license is for the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK), which features tests, tools and documentation to determine if an implementation complies with the Java Platform Standard Edition 6 specification. Sun is licensing the kit under terms that will permit contributors to comply with terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 while giving the OpenJDK community the means to provide compatibility. The license will enable developers to test compatability of their contributions to the OpenJDK project. Distributors, meanwhile, will be able to test implementations derived from OpenJDK and distributed under GPLv2. Organizations or developers that use the OpenJDK Community TCK License and then pass compatibility testing will have the option of branding their implementation with Sun’s “Java Compatible” trademark and logo. The open-sourcing of Java was announced in May 2006, with initial code released in November 2006. All available source code was released by this past May. The license is available here. Sun Executive Vice President Rich Green, in a blog about the effort, notes that Sun’s moves have not pleased Apache. Green cites licensing issues between Apache and the GPL.“For what it’s worth, I completely understand why there is disagreement,” Green said. Sun knew its choice of the GPL would not satisfy everybody, he said. Sun also has posted FAQs about open source Java initiatives here and here. Technology Industry