Google confirms next Android version will use Oracle’s open-source OpenJDK for Java APIs

VentureBeat ^ | December 29, 2015 1:31 PM | Emil Protalinski

[Utilizer]

Google is replacing its implementation of the Java application programming interfaces (APIs) in Android with OpenJDK, the open source version of Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK). The news first came by a “mysterious Android codebase commit” from last month submitted to Hacker News. Google confirmed to VentureBeat that Android N will rely on an OpenJDK implementation, rather Android’s own implementation of the Java APIs.

“As an open-source platform, Android is built upon the collaboration of the open-source community,” a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat. “In our upcoming release of Android, we plan to move Android’s Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a common code base for developers to build apps and services. Google has long worked with and contributed to the OpenJDK community, and we look forward to making even more contributions to the OpenJDK project in the future.”

Android provides certain Java API libraries to support the development of apps in the Java programming language, broken into two parts: the APIs to the libraries, and the implementing code developed by Google that make said libraries work. Oracle, which develops Java, has two implementations of these libraries: the proprietary JDK version and the open source OpenJDK version. Google’s decision to “consolidate” its efforts with OpenJDK means it is moving away from its own implementing code to Oracle’s open-source code.

[Utilizer]

Is this really a simplification as The Goog claims, or is it simply a matter of convenience?

[Utilizer]

Apologies, I should have previewed a bit further before posting.

Here is the same excerpt, but cleaned up a bit:

Google is replacing its implementation of the Java application programming interfaces (APIs) in Android with OpenJDK, the open source version of Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK). The news first came by a “mysterious Android codebase commit” from last month submitted to Hacker News. Google confirmed to VentureBeat that Android N will rely on an OpenJDK implementation, rather Android’s own implementation of the Java APIs.

“As an open-source platform, Android is built upon the collaboration of the open-source community,” a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat. “In our upcoming release of Android, we plan to move Android’s Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a common code base for developers to build apps and services. Google has long worked with and contributed to the OpenJDK community, and we look forward to making even more contributions to the OpenJDK project in the future.”

Android provides certain Java API libraries to support the development of apps in the Java programming language, broken into two parts: the APIs to the libraries, and the implementing code developed by Google that make said libraries work. Oracle, which develops Java, has two implementations of these libraries: the proprietary JDK version and the open source OpenJDK version. Google’s decision to “consolidate” its efforts with OpenJDK means it is moving away from its own implementing code to Oracle’s open-source code.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Utilizer.

[Utilizer]

Anytime, mate.