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Are there any active projects to build an open source replacement for the Java and the JVM?

In my mind to replace the JVM a new project would at least need to run on something like a virtual machine and be cross platform.

I know some people are not happy with the fact that Oracle owns Java now but I'm wondering if the displeasure is enough to sustain a full Java/JVM replacement project.

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  • Err, the JVM is a virtual machine. Commented Dec 24, 2010 at 0:20
  • The OpenJDK is what you are looking for - openjdk.java.net Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 9:20

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It's not quite clear to me what is being asked here. An "open source replacement for Java and the JVM" doesn't make much sense, since the term "open source" usually refers to software, but Java and the JVM aren't software, they are specifications.

If you are asking about open source implementations of the Java and JVM specifications, then there are already plenty of those. There's no need to build one. There are sone ugly license restrictions that may make it illegal to call those implementations "Java" or "JVM", though.

If you are asking about open standards that provide an alternative to Java and the JVM, then one such set of standards is ISO/IEC 23270 aka ECMA-334 aka C# and ISO/IEC 23270, 23271, TR 23272, TR 25438 aka ECMA-335 aka CLI. Together also commonly referred to as .NET.

They have similar scope and goals as Java and the JVM, with the main difference being that they are published as open standards by two renowned independent international standards bodies, whereas the Java and JVM specifications are proprietary standards published by a bespoke standards body owned by a single company.

Like Java and the JVM, there are open source implementations (well, one open source implementation).

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I did mean open standards, thank you for the clarification. I did not know that .Net is an open standard. That significantly increases my respect for it. The fact that the .Net world is currently dominated by Microsoft still makes me suspicious of it however. What I would really like to see is open standards for a language and virtual machine platform that are more community driven. Maybe one day .Net will achieve that.
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There's OpenJDK and Apache Harmony - the problem is that these are still dependant on Oracle because the compatibility test suite is not free, thus an open source project cannot be officially Java-compatible without Oracle's support. Additionally, there is the issue of patents as seen in the Oracle/Google lawsuit over the Dalvik VM.

As for a replacement of the Java language as well as the VM: it would be very hard for anything like that to gain enough traction to be a serious alternative. I doubt a completely new effort would have a real chance in the face of long established ecosystems like Python, and Ruby.

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I was thinking more along the lines of a virtual machine and everything around it build from scratch so that it was completely free of Oracles and anyone else's patents. I agree that it would be a huge project and is up against big established players. But then the odds against Linux were even greater.
@Nash0 The problem with patents is that building from scratch isn't any guarantee that you aren't violating a patent.
@Nash0 - Patents aren't an issue when Oracle/Sun have already released their stuff under GPL. OMG's stuff is the only remaining part of the class libraries that hasn't been released, and as I said, RedHat have already provided an alternative.
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Most of Java has already (since '06/'07) been open-sourced by Sun/Oracle as OpenJVM. For those parts that haven't, RedHat's IcedTea project provides a full GPL replacement.

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