Google has confirmed that it is making the move from Oracle’s proprietary Java application programming interfaces (APIs) to OpenJDK, the open source version of the Java Development Kit, in Android N. The move was initially spotted in commits to the Android codebase, and was later confirmed to VentureBeat:
“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.”
According to the commit in the Android code base, Google has been working on the switch since February of 2015, but Google’s statement makes it official, and it looks like we’ll see the fruit of the company’s labors in the next major Android release.
As VentureBeat speculates, the switch to OpenJDK could be tangentially related to Google’s ongoing legal battle with Oracle, which acquired Java creator Sun in 2010. However, Google has long been a supporter of OpenJDK, indicating that the benefits of switching to the open source libraries are the main driver here.
Sources: VentureBeat, Google Git