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MySQL 3.20.32a Released Under GPL
Rolan writes "It seems that MySQL has been released under the GPL. Though I can't find any stories on it, you can see the 'news' here." We're posting this because lots of people have sent it in, but don't get too excited about it, okay? According to this Linux Today piece sent in by bradsjm, only one older version of MySQL is being released under GPL. A good start, and worthy of applause, but not that big a deal in the overall scheme of things.
A copyright holder can apply the GPL and any number of other licenses to his own work. He can't take back the GPL on a version once it's released, but is not required to use it on subsequent versions. However, this entirely ignores the matter of contributions. If you get GPL-ed contributions, you can't change the license on them without the permission of their copyright holders. Some people insist that you sign over the copyright of modifications before they will include them in their source thread, so that they can change the licensing on those modifications later on.
P.S. I just got back from 2 weeks in Alaska and was offline all that time
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
LICENSE FOR FOO PRODUCT
If your name is Bill, you may use Foo Product under the terms of the BSD License.
If your name is Joe, you may use Foo Product under the terms of the GPL.
In any other cases, the licensing terms for this product are dictated by the QPL.
Given, of course, that you define what the BSD License, the GPL, and QPL are, that is probably a valid license. Also, you can go ahead and release it to your friend Sue under a completely different license, and you don't have to tell anyone about it.
And then, 6 months later, you decide that Foo Product's licensing terms were a bit too restrictive, and you want Joe /and/ Bill to have rights to it under the BSD License, and everyone else to have it under the GPL. You can do that. The previous license still stands, though - so those people who got it under the rights of the previous license still have those rights.
And then, of course, you have to follow the terms of the license. In this case, Monty's releasing an old, unsupported version of MySQL under the GPL. This doesn't negate the fact it was under a non-Free license before, and it doesn't change the licensing to anything else. However, anything you do with this new GPL-licensed MySQL must be done under the terms of the GPL. Later on, Monty can change the license again, and you don't gain any more, nor do you lose, rights to it than you had under the GPL. Unless some sort of termination clause or other such thing is built right into the license, a piece of software is licensed as it is forever.
If I remember correctly, MySQL still doesn't support referential integrity......so, technically speaking, you really shouldn't even call it a database.
Although I don't have any hard data to either confirm or deny your statement, I will accept as fact that Postgres has better performance on really large databases.
To me that's not a relevant selling point, while MySQL's speed is. I'm using PHP and MySQL to automate my company's intranet - content management, remote publishing, workflow, that sort of thing. The quantity of data that needs to reside in a database is relatively modest, so Postgres' superior performance at the high end is a benefit that I will never see. Our "Current Clients" or "Job Openings" databases just aren't going to get so big that MySQL strains under the load.
>But for real databases of actual size...
These are real databases, because they are storing real corporate information, reducing duplication of data, improving consistency, and generally making my fellow employees' work days better. Their actual size is very modest - much smaller than their actual benefit. Different tasks require different tools.
MySQL's speed does represent an immediate benefit to me, and to my users. Also, because I'm automating workflow, rather than handling financial transactions, I don't miss the features like commits or rollbacks that MySQL leaves out (specifically to increase the db's speed).
But the real "killer app" for me is the web-based interface to MySQL, phpMyAdmin. This is a truly wonderful utility which has saved me tons of development time. The basic interface permits me to administer MySQL from my browser, and I can crank out customized interfaces on very short notice, just by copying the php scripts to a new directory and commenting out the HTML that produces functions that I don't want to offer to the user. In a relatively "high trust" environment like the company's intranet, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin have made my job MUCH easier.
FYI, the makers of phpMyAdmin now have a postgresMyAdmin , too, although I've been so happy with MySQL that I don't feel compelled to change.
MySQL is a solid web tuned relational database. PostgresSQL is an academic database that implements many features MySQL doesn't but it takes a serious performance hit with all of those features.
The power of technology is manifest in how it is applied within the social matrix.
This is amazingly cool. Let me lay it out in a simple list with a close-to-home example:
- Slashdot uses MySQL
- Slashdot occasionally has DB problems
- GPL'd software always has source code available
Conclusion: If MySQL were GPL'd, Slashdot could be made more stable.I think we can all agree this is a laudable goal. Just because the GPL'd release is slightly older means nothing. The only reason new releases exist is to fix bugs or add features. Both of these actions are possible to perform against GPL'd software WITHOUT the permission of the original owner.
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Put Hemos through English 101!
"An armed society is a polite society" -- Robert Heinlein
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
Question to any moderators / Rob: Why hasn't this post been moderated down yet? Do we need more moderator points available?
True, the post he/she is replying to was in error, but this response is just plain insulting.
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Ian Peters
Alphas may handle files bigger than 2gb, but the EXT2 filesystem doesn't.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
The copyright holder, the owner of the source code, can use whatever license he/she wants at any time. Now, if someone ELSE takes the source code, they are the ones who have obligations under the GPL.
The GPL specifies the rights and obligations granted to you from someone else. Unless that someone else also received the GPLed source code, they have no GPL-related obligations whatsoever.
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Actually, that isn't such a bad idea. If there was a script that sent a "first post" message, then at least the wouldn't get pleasure (???) of doing it. And the script could generate the messages at -1 automatically so we wouldn't have to see them.
Maybe the lamers would just go bother some other site...
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If you have the source, you can make changes to it. MySQL has the reputation for being fast, but it lacks a lot of features. For all those who bitch about those shortcomings, well, now you have the source to a fast database engine and you can do something about it.
Yes, I can spell "code fork" -- but if enough people start building on the old MySQL source, maybe they will eventually catch up to current versions of MySQL in terms of features, performance, and reliability and this might give TCX more reason to go all the way with the GPL.
But then, I'm just an Anonymous Coward
See: http://www.mysql.com/Manual_chapter/manual_Licensi ng_and_Support.html Basically, if you are selling MySQL on CD, charging to intall it, or putting it in a non-redistrubitable distribution they want a cut. The client is already GPLed.
So what I discovered was that PostgreSQL had a lot of advanced features, and when I saw from examples how these could be used, there was no question about that I should use PostgreSQL instead. I used to love MySQL, and I still do as a quick web-application database, but whenever I make a more serious system these days, I tend to use PostgreSQL because the features it provides allows me to construct a database layout that is superior than that which can be made with MySQL.
Alphas handle files much bigger than 2 GB. As Linus is supposed to have said, if you want to do stuff like that, get a real computer to do it with.
They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. -- C. Sagan
PostgreSQL was an academic database five years ago. Today, it is a full-featured SQL database with many of the same features as Oracle or Informix -- and, like those databases, it is not the fastest in the world and has a pretty hefty footprint.
The speed problem is pretty much gone nowdays, but any SQL database that supports cursors, triggers, and transactions will be slower than an SQL database that ignores those features in favor of pure speed.
MySQL leaves out features in exchange for speed. PostGreSQL doesn't. Which one to use depends on whether you need those features or not. For web site use you usually don't need those features. If you were writing an accounting or inventory package, on the other hand, I would not do it without having full transaction with rollbacks support, i.e. PostGreSQL. Otherwise you run the risk of database inconsistencies that could be the death of your business.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
Yeah, by those measures it's still a toy. But as a toy it's still powerful enough for little web-backend databases, which it seems to work very well for.
A Honda Civic is a toy, if your standard is a Tractor-Trailer rig. That doesn't make it less useful for the people who only need to run to the store for groceries. I'm glad to see more choices available in Free database servers, even "toys".
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Open mind, insert foot.
So if they release verion 3.20.32a under the GPL, by the nature of the GPL doesn't that mean that all successive versions are also covered by the GPL?
I ask this beacuse the article is very specific about a particular version of MySQL.
Yeah, I know it's a nitpick, but I'm not trying to look a gift-culture in the mouth. I just want to make sure I understand how the GPL works.
Steve