Re: Commercial Java program bundled with 'free' database?
Thomas Hawtin wrote:
David Segall wrote:
"Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> wrote:
You mean other than the requirement to GPL (or similar) the whole
application ?
There is no requirement to GPL an application because it makes use of
a separate GPL application. If there was Oracle would be GPL because
That does not appear to be in agreement with the claims of MySQL AB.
http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/commercial-license.html
I think MySQL has been intentionally FUD'ing a bit in this
area.
I belive that the common interpretation is:
- if you you ship MySQL code with your code you need to
either be GPL/FOSS or pay for a commercial license
- if you don't ship any MySQL code then they can not
claim any GPL issues at all
This is not what MySQL say in the above link.
"If you develop and distribute a commercial application and as part of
utilizing your application, the end-user must download a copy of MySQL;
for each derivative work, you (or, in some cases, your end-user) need a
commercial license for the MySQL server and/or MySQL client libraries."
But as I understand the GPL license then it is strictly about
distribution. If you don't distribute any GPL software, then
GPL does not apply to you.
If the MySQL interpretation above was correct, then any software
for Linux would be be GPL'ed. It is rather obvious that a
Linux binary requires the user to install Linux.
That is what I call common sense. Ask a lawyer for a true legal
evaluation. I can not guarantee that the license law will follow what
I consider common sense.
Arne