Is Java now paid? Dispel rumors (or not?)

Already 2 days as changes in the licensing policy of Oracle for the distribution of assemblies Java SE . In the medium of slop-developers (I also among them), horrible rumors began to be heard.

What happened

In mid-2018, Oracle announced that it was going to change the licensing policy. On April 16, 2019, the change came into force. Now, all published after this build date Java SE can be used free of charge only for personal needs and for development purposes. For commercial use (including for production) you need to make a paid subscription from Oracle.

What-ah?

Oracle shot itself in the foot and kills java? No, it does not kill. No, not shot. But the problems freeloaders threw all of us. Let's quickly see what this means in practical terms, without these your GPL, BCL, WTF ...

Why did they do it?

As you know, Oracle actually collects and publishes two versions of the JDK: Oracle JDK (aka Java SE, located on java.com ) and Open JDK (located on openjdk.java.net ).

To understand the meaning of the whole idea, just look at this slide from their presentation :

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For commercial assembly support is long lasting. For free - short. Those. in order to roll patches on the free OpenJDK, in half a year it will be necessary to upgrade the version. Oracle JDK will release patches for another 5 years after release. Therefore, it is paid.

What about Java 8, 9, 10, 11 ...?

This applies to all versions.

Does this concern the JRE?

Nowhere is the JRE license indicated separately. It is believed that once the JRE is a subset of the JDK, then the license restrictions are the same. Those. - yes, it concerns the JRE.

I have to take this all down now at production?!?!

Not. The changes concern only new issues (after April 16). For Java 8 SE, Update 211 was the first release with limitations. Everything that was previously released can be used without restrictions.

What to do now?

Put OpenJDK. But Oracle's OpenJDK itself does not have an official Windows installer (and an automatic update), you need to unpack it with your hands.



If the installer is important to you, it remains only to use the early releases from Oracle (Update 202). And updates all the same should be disconnected.



UPD: The comments suggested that there are free binaries with the installer AdoptOpenJDK , supported by comunity.

You can also pay attention to Liberica JDK , which is supported by JetBrains.

Doesn't OpenJDK break anything?

Should not (s). Differences in functionality are minimal and very few people are affected. At the same time, Oracle systematically reduces these differences by pouring them into OpenJDK or removing them altogether.