On 12 Feb 2004, Chris Travers wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-02-11 at 03:06, scott.marlowe wrote:
>
> >
> > simple. They GPL'd their connection libs. So, if you write code that has
> > their connection libs in it, it's gotta be GPL'd.
> >
> > Now, if you don't mind using the ODBC connector, you're scott free. but
> > you WILL be bound by the GPL, and the GPL (not MySQL's interpretation,
> > just the GPL in general) being applied to connect libs seriously limits
> > your ability to distribute code, since you'd have to GPL your own code if
> > you distributed it outside your own private organization.
> >
> I am not sure I agree. There are plenty of ways of circumventing this
> issue with the connecting libraries. For example, if I really wanted to
> (and it would be quite feasible for me to do so) I could write a SOAP
> server, CORBA component, or just a simple UNIX socket server which I
> could use to communicate with a GPL'd program. This new "server" would
> connect using client libraries licensed under the LGPL and released to
> the world. I don't think MySQL would be happy, but I don't really think
> that they could do much. I might even call it OurSQL to piss them off
> ;-).
>
> Of course, I don't do this because I prefer PostgreSQL anyway.
no kidding. I have to admit that in my mad scientist moments, I have
envisioned writing a new connect lib that's BSD/LPGL licensed. Primarily
just because I can be a bit antisocial... :)