GNU Public License version 2 with Classpath Exception?

Question

I noticed this today, and I searched for it on Google, but I can't seem to find the GNU Public License Version 2 with Classpath Exception. Is it a new license? What does it cover?

Edit: I was originally kidding (and hadn't really Googled) because I thought this was a Netbeans error, but I see that the joke is on me: it's an exception to the GPLv2 when you link to the Netbeans lib on your classpath. Anyway, I'll leave this up since it might be useful to someone. Thanks Alex for the detailed answer.

Answer 1

Googling your question gets the text of the licence:

http://openjdk.java.net/legal/gplv2+ce.html

Which states:

As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.