The Apache Foundation has proposed creating an open source version of Java on the desktop, a plan that Sun has initially welcomed.
Project Harmony, which was formally proposed last Friday, aims to write J2SE from scratch.
The project was proposed by members of Apache and other individuals involved in Java development. The submitters plan to create a Java virtual machine, related libraries and testing software — all of which would be available under the Apache licence.
If accepted, the project would create something that open source developers and others have demanded for years but that Sun has resisted.
Sun is the primary author of J2SE and provides testing tools and a reference implementation to ensure compatibility among different Java software licensees. The company has not made its own J2SE software available with an open source licence because of legal considerations and concerns with Java compatibility.
In the Project Harmony proposal and FAQ, the group of submitters said there is "broad community interest" in creating an open source version of J2SE. It said that Project Harmony does not intend to compete with Sun directly and that it will use a code-submission process designed to avoid legal problems.
The group is taking on the project now because Sun changed the rules in the Java Community Process to better accommodate open source software.
Graham Hamilton, a Sun vice-president and fellow, said that Sun welcomes the project, although he questioned the need for it.
"I am very curious about how the Harmony project will work out — creating a full-scale implementation of J2SE is a mammoth task, as the Sun J2SE team knows only too well," Hamilton said in his blog.
Hamilton added that Sun is likely to participate in the project in some way.
Although open source Java advocates is likely to welcome Project Harmony, the results of any project could take three years to five years to appear, said Anne Thomas Manes, an analyst at the Burton Group. She said there should not be compatibility problems because Apache will have to follow Sun's testing guidelines for J2SE.
"I think it's wonderful Apache wants to do [this], but it will be a long time before there's a seriously competitive implementation with commercial vendors," she said. "It will take a long time to do clean-room implementation of J2SE because it's a very big piece of code."
