On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 4:34 PM, David Wall <d.wall@computer.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> My understanding is that's not quite true. The client libraries are GPL, so
> you can't use them directly, but I don't see what would stop you using their
> ODBC/JDBC drivers with your non-GPL application (especially if you support
> other ODBC databases as well). The server can't be bundled in your
> application, but you can still get the user to install it and use it with
> your application.
> According to the MySQL license info (
> http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/commercial-license.html ):
>
>
> When your application is not licensed under either the GPL-compatible Free
> Software License as defined by the Free Software Foundation or approved by
> OSI, and you intend to or you may distribute MySQL software, you must first
> obtain a commercial license to the MySQL product.
>
> Typical examples of MySQL distribution include:
>
>
>
> Selling software that includes MySQL to customers who install the software
> on their own machines.
>
>
> Selling software that requires customers to install MySQL themselves on
> their own machines.
>
>
> Building a hardware system that includes MySQL and selling that hardware
> system to customers for installation at their own locations.
>
> It sure sounds like if your application uses MySQL and you sell your
> software (I presume this would include online services that charge for use
> of the site and that site runs MySQL under the hood), you have to buy a
> commercial license, and you can't get around it just by not directly
> distributing MySQL and having your customer install it separately.
I imagine you can get round the second one by building your software
so it supports PostgreSQL as well - that way you don't 'require
customes to install MySQL'.
As for the hardware one, well, that just confirms everything I
previously thought about MySQL that is unrepeatable where minors may
be reading.
--
Dave Page
EnterpriseDB UK Ltd: http://www.enterprisedb.com
PostgreSQL UK 2008 Conference: http://www.postgresql.org.uk
