Is MySQL Planning a Change of Tune?

Iggy writes "After reading the article on 'The MySQL License Question' by Timothy R. Butler at Open for Business I just have to wonder, is this company's wording on the MySQL site indicating the company is backing away from Free Software, specifically, the GPL? Great reading and certainly thought provoking."

Comments

Forking?

[headkase]

Couldn't anyone create their own fork from the last GPL'd source?

Good for them...

[SnapShot]

If a prorietary software vendor wants to package MySQL with their product I'm glad MySQL AG is getting a few bucks out of it.

It doesn't seem to negatively affect the free software developers.

I've always liked the idea that you could release a product under a Free license but keep the option to sell versions to companies as well.

I realize that this doesn't answer the question of whether the GPL itself allows this kind of dual license but it seems to me that TrollTech does something similar and that has never bothered me either.

Re:Good for them...

[AKAImBatman]

See, here's the problem. MySQL AG seems to have reinterpreted the GPL to mean that any use of their software means that your software should be open source. Run a small website with the MySQL database? If all the source to that site is not GPLed, you're in violation. That's despite the fact that your site should be a clear and separate product from MySQL.

MySQL has made sure to cement their interpretation in two ways:

1. They "purchased" the LGPL JDBC driver and relicensed it as GPL. This ensures that physical linking will occur with their software (and thus the warning in the article about "circumventing" the drivers).

2. They keep their own variation of SQL (with the #$^@ing backticks) so that software must be designed for use with MySQL. While some of us use config files on a per driver basis, many software developers have fallen for the bait and tied their software to MySQL. Doing so invalidates certain GPL clauses that may allow you to get around the "linking" issue.

Re:It's MySQL

[Tokerat]

You just named the fork.

Re:Brings to mind a question....

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

I'll give you my reading, because the other followup didn't catch all your questions:

You are welcome to license your new versions or the same version under licenses other than the GPL, because the GPL is non-exclusive. You can re-license the original code to yourself, if you feel like getting that far into it, under any license you like. What you cannot do is revoke the GPL rights on copies already distributed. This parallel licensing, where projects are released under the GPL and then sublicensed to private entities under non free licenses in exchange for bling is probably ( imho ) the best way to make money on a free software project.

Anyone else have a better grasp of the issues?

YLFI

"New Offerings on the Horizon"

[ttfkam]

Speaking of the new releases made possible by MySQL's dual licensing business model [as though they would stop all development otherwise], Urlocker pointed out that MySQL 4.1 is presently in beta and "should be released for production" within four to five weeks. According to information provided by the company, the new release will feature OpenGIS geographical data support [just like PostgreSQL and Oracle have done for some time now?] and the ability to send multiple SQL statements via a C language MySQL API call and receive the results back at once [yup, even though batch SQL processing isn't all that new, just use our proprietary C API and leave that nasty old ODBC behind], among other additions and enhancements [which by and large have been done by every other database vendor before us].

MySQL 5.0, the first major update to the product since the MySQL 4.0 "production" release was announced in early 2003, is presently in the alpha stage of development. "New stored procedures and views" are among the features that this upcoming release will include [even though they publicly made a point of telling developers how little you needed them just a short while ago]. Some other interesting features may also make it into the code before the release, but Urlocker said that his company prefers to "under promise and over deliver." [Well they've certainly delivered on the under promise part.]

This was fun! It kinda makes me want to write a timeline of when MySQL developers would publicly and loudly assert that certain features were not needed and compare it another timeline that proudly announces the formerly useless feature in their newest revision.

Might be as much fun as reading the MySQL gotchas pages. "Foreign keys only serve to slow database engines down." Wait a couple of years... "MySQL 4: Now with new enterprise features like foreign key support!" Wash. Rinse. Repeat. ...to get the stink off.

Those who forget the past are doomed to extended use of a debugger.

Re:Free software

[Bastian]

The issue is that the information MySQL AB puts on their site advising people about which license to choose isn't entirely in sync with what the GPL really states. Basically, MySQL AB is trying to scare businesses who weren't planning on violating the GPL into purchasing a commercial license of MySQL just incase.

This even comes out in the article when they talk about applications that talk to a MySQL database but don't actually link against any MySQL (or other GPL) libraries being a gray area. There is no gray area in sight on this issue - if there is no mixing of code, the license is not applicable and there cannot be a GPL violation.

MySQL AB's assertion here is akin to their claiming that you're running dangerously close to violating the GPL when you develop commercial software that runs on GNU/Linux. Yes, your app speaks to GNU software constantly, depends fundamentally on it, and is completely useless without said GNU software, but nobody is claiming you're anywhere near violationg the GPL. It's a pretty damn hypocritical argument for them to make, too, since there is a build of their software that runs on (works closely with) GNU/Linux that they do not release under the GPL. (I consider the GPL and commercial versions of MySQL to be different products because they admit there are minor differences between the two due to licensing issues with the libraries MySQL depends on.)

I understand that MySQL is trying to secure a profit for themselves, but doing it by scaring folks away isn't going to help very much. They'll get more chance of a profit from me by putting out an effort to implement all of the features a lot of corporate users have come to expect from a bunch of their competitors and being a bit more well-behaved in terms of SQL standards compliance, thus making potential business customers more interested in tightly coupling applications with MySQL in the first place.

GPL and Commerical Licenses Impossible?

[greggman]

This whole topic reminds me of question to which I've never gotten a good answer.

One of the supposed benefits of Open Source in general is that lots of people can contribute, add features, fix bugs. This includes the GPL.

GPLed code and GPLed contributions stay GPLed forever.

MySQL is GPLed. MySQL sells a commercial license. Do you really believe the commerical version of MySQL has ZERO GPLed contributions to it? No bug fixes from anyone outside AB? No feature additions from anyone outside AB? While I admit it's remotely possible, if there are no outside contributions to MySQL then what's the point of it being GPLed? If there are then it's illegal for them to redistribute a version of MySQL with the GPLed contributions in it under some other license.

Re:MySQL AB Comments

[jadavis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the client libraries licensed as GPL?

This makes it difficult to develop an application with MySQL support, even under a FOSS license like the BSD license, without paying for a commercial MySQL license. Merely providing a MySQL database driver seems to violate the GPL if the application is not GPL.

As I understand it, this is more restrictive than even proprietary databases. As evidence I point out that PHP includes many database drivers (proprietary and FOSS), but does not bundle the MySQL one anymore.

Also, it creates a significant "grey area" when your language of choice (e.g. PHP) provides a driver. Must the PHP app then be GPL as well?

Am I being confused by FUD or are these real points of confusion and concern?

I am really only concerned with the client libraries. I'm certainly comfortable with the server itself being GPL, and I am grateful to MySQL AB for contributing so much code in a FOSS license. Client libraries are often LGPL, and it confuses me when MySQL AB does not follow that norm.