Delivering JRE/Java3D on CD?

Herkules · December 22, 2002, 7:33am

Hi community!

I’m a software developer - so I’m not very good in understanding license agreements, esp. when not written in German :). So maybe somebody can enlighten me.

I try to deliver a game on CD that needs a jre1.4.1 and Java3 1.3. I assume that both isn’t installed on the target machine and that my customers aren’t able or willing to install it - neither from installation binaries from the CD nor from the web.

I found that it is technically possible to just copy the bin and lib directories from an installed JRE to a CD and run java.exe from there.

Would this kind of distribution be legal? Or something nearby?

Hope for help,

J

princec · December 22, 2002, 9:46am

I believe this is not allowed under the Sun license agreement as it’s a “partial” distribution I think you might be looking for the “embedded” license, which is where you can ship the pre-installed (and even partial) JRE in amongst your application code.

Which is of course why I’ve had such trouble fretting over whether to stay with Java as my primary game development language.

Cas

Herkules · December 22, 2002, 11:05am

[quote]I think you might be looking for the “embedded” license, which is where you can ship the pre-installed (and even partial) JRE in amongst your application code.
[/quote]
Where to look?

Herkules · December 22, 2002, 11:47am

Hm, really tried to read the license agreement and the README file. From what I understand, it’s legal to redistribute the lib and bin directories (which basically is the JRE) and you are even allowed to ommit some files as listed in the README.

Same for Java3D, where the list of required files is given…

princec · December 22, 2002, 1:03pm

Ah yes, it does seem so, now I’ve actually read the readme

Shame I can’t omit all the files I want to omit. I think that’s what the embedded license is about. If you just want to plonk the whole JRE onto the CD it seems you are explicitly allowed to do it! Which is nice.

Cas

admin1 · February 18, 2003, 9:16pm

Cas, you are correct. As long as you don’t modify the distribution beyond what is allowed in the readme, then you can distribute free of charge.

-Chris

Breakfast · February 22, 2003, 7:39pm

How well does this perform? Is it any different to running it off the hard drive?

admin1 · February 22, 2003, 8:03pm

Breakfast,

You distribute it on CD so it can be installed on the HD…

-SG

Herkules · February 23, 2003, 7:35am

It can run straight off the CD. Loading times increase significantly though.

It would be great to have a customizable installation so that with the first game a full JRE/Java3D is installed on the machine. Or even an existing one gets update. DirectX works that way, but still could be better.
This would open the way for following games (e.g. web-based). One killer game in Java and Sun wouldn’t need to force MS to distribute Java any more on court.

Now, e.g. for a budget game, one cannot expect the player being capable to perform the standard JRE/Java3D installation steps. So the only way is to install the JRE tied with the game. Most tools do it like this (JBuilder, Together, RoboForge…)

admin1 · February 23, 2003, 12:39pm

Well, it CAN run straight off of the CD but then it is more of an “embedded” implementation than a Java install. Roboforge, Vampire, Law and Order, etc. all do this. It is now getting companies to shift from embedding Java (i.e in it’s own path for use only by the game) to doing a full install/upgrade as Herk suggests. And I also agree, that one good, strong killer game could start the ball rolling for massive current Java distribution.

-Chris

gregorypierce · February 24, 2003, 2:33am

Talk to the Limewire folks. They have distributed more Java to the desktop than all other desktop Java applications combined. Funny thing is - people don’t even realize they are running Java

princec · February 24, 2003, 7:15am

Aren’t they wondering where all their RAM went?

Cas

cfmdobbie · February 24, 2003, 9:08am

I have to agree that LimeWire was the killer app of the initial gnutella boom. If it hadn’t started to have problems (legal and technical), LimeWire would still be installed everywhere. And as a Java tool it was damn impressive!

Interesting to note that the most popular applications on Download.com are usually P2P or IM apps, or compression or Internet tools (firewall, ad blocker etc). What can Java bring to these areas? Internet and compression tools generally require too many native hooks for Java to be a contender…

And scarily enough, the number one download (Kazaa Media Desktop) has been downloaded more times than numbers two through thirteen combined. Now that’s a market to get hold of! Clocks in at under 5MB too, using an initial 160KB download that then obtains the rest. Nice!