mysql gpl license

[VisionSet]

Is my understanding of the MySQL license correct for this situation?

If I write software that uses MySQL as in client/server. I can distribute
both together commercially so long as I make it clear that the source is
available and maybe changed ie propagate the GPL license?

TIA
--
Mike W

[Brent Bice]

VisionSet wrote:

Is my understanding of the MySQL license correct for this situation?

If I write software that uses MySQL as in client/server. I can distribute
both together commercially so long as I make it clear that the source is
available and maybe changed ie propagate the GPL license?

I'm wondering almost the same thing. We are building a downloadable
demo of one of our products and I urged the folks in
Engineering and Support to make sure the demo supported
MySQL in addition to Sybase, Oracle, Informix, and DB2. But
when someone called MySQL to ask if it was ok to bundle
a version of MySQL with the demo (remember, this is a *demo*,
not a production environment), the folks at MySQL said no.

In fact, from what I was told, when she asked if we could just
include a URL in our documentation for the downloadable demo
we were building saying "if you'd like to try MySQL with our
product, here's where you can download it to try it out"
(remember, this is only a *demo* too, not even a production
version of OUR product) and the guy at MySQL threatened to
sue us if we did.

I found this VERY disturbing, given that I'm the one that
recommended MySQL to begin with. Can anyone from MySQL confirm
or deny that this would be the case? I mean, if someone downloads
our demo of OUR product and it contains URLs to trial versions of
MySQL (along with URLs to postgres, Informix, Sybase, Oracle, etc)
are we really gonna be sued by MySQL? It seems ... well,
ludicrous and makes me think she (the person who called MySQL)
was talking to some "I_work_on_commission_so_pay_me_or_sod_off"
sort of ninny who didn't really speak for MySQL (or misrepresented
'em).

Brent Bice
Remove "NOSPAM" from the address above to reply
I speak for myself, don't bug my employer

[Brent Bice]

VisionSet wrote:

Is my understanding of the MySQL license correct for this situation?

If I write software that uses MySQL as in client/server. I can distribute
both together commercially so long as I make it clear that the source is
available and maybe changed ie propagate the GPL license?

I'm wondering almost the same thing. We are building a downloadable
demo of one of our products and I urged the folks in
Engineering and Support to make sure the demo supported
MySQL in addition to Sybase, Oracle, Informix, and DB2. But
when someone called MySQL to ask if it was ok to bundle
a version of MySQL with the demo (remember, this is a *demo*,
not a production environment), the folks at MySQL said no.

In fact, from what I was told, when she asked if we could just
include a URL in our documentation for the downloadable demo
we were building saying "if you'd like to try MySQL with our
product, here's where you can download it to try it out"
(remember, this is only a *demo* too, not even a production
version of OUR product) and the guy at MySQL threatened to
sue us if we did.

I found this VERY disturbing, given that I'm the one that
recommended MySQL to begin with. Can anyone from MySQL confirm
or deny that this would be the case? I mean, if someone downloads
our demo of OUR product and it contains URLs to trial versions of
MySQL (along with URLs to postgres, Informix, Sybase, Oracle, etc)
are we really gonna be sued by MySQL? It seems ... well,
ludicrous and makes me think she (the person who called MySQL)
was talking to some "I_work_on_commission_so_pay_me_or_sod_off"
sort of ninny who didn't really speak for MySQL (or misrepresented
'em).

Brent Bice
Remove "NOSPAM" from the address above to reply
I speak for myself, don't bug my employer

[VisionSet]

"Brent Bice" <bb*****@SPAMpersistence.com> wrote in message
news:vr************@corp.supernews.com...

VisionSet wrote:

Is my understanding of the MySQL license correct for this situation?

If I write software that uses MySQL as in client/server. I can distribute both together commercially so long as I make it clear that the source is
available and maybe changed ie propagate the GPL license?

I'm wondering almost the same thing. We are building a downloadable
demo of one of our products and I urged the folks in
Engineering and Support to make sure the demo supported
MySQL in addition to Sybase, Oracle, Informix, and DB2. But
when someone called MySQL to ask if it was ok to bundle
a version of MySQL with the demo (remember, this is a *demo*,
not a production environment), the folks at MySQL said no.

In fact, from what I was told, when she asked if we could just
include a URL in our documentation for the downloadable demo
we were building saying "if you'd like to try MySQL with our
product, here's where you can download it to try it out"
(remember, this is only a *demo* too, not even a production
version of OUR product) and the guy at MySQL threatened to
sue us if we did.

I found this VERY disturbing, given that I'm the one that
recommended MySQL to begin with. Can anyone from MySQL confirm
or deny that this would be the case? I mean, if someone downloads
our demo of OUR product and it contains URLs to trial versions of
MySQL (along with URLs to postgres, Informix, Sybase, Oracle, etc)
are we really gonna be sued by MySQL? It seems ... well,
ludicrous and makes me think she (the person who called MySQL)
was talking to some "I_work_on_commission_so_pay_me_or_sod_off"
sort of ninny who didn't really speak for MySQL (or misrepresented
'em).

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license
or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M
ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

--
Mike W

[VisionSet]

"Brent Bice" <bb*****@SPAMpersistence.com> wrote in message
news:vr************@corp.supernews.com...

VisionSet wrote:

Is my understanding of the MySQL license correct for this situation?

If I write software that uses MySQL as in client/server. I can distribute both together commercially so long as I make it clear that the source is
available and maybe changed ie propagate the GPL license?

I'm wondering almost the same thing. We are building a downloadable
demo of one of our products and I urged the folks in
Engineering and Support to make sure the demo supported
MySQL in addition to Sybase, Oracle, Informix, and DB2. But
when someone called MySQL to ask if it was ok to bundle
a version of MySQL with the demo (remember, this is a *demo*,
not a production environment), the folks at MySQL said no.

In fact, from what I was told, when she asked if we could just
include a URL in our documentation for the downloadable demo
we were building saying "if you'd like to try MySQL with our
product, here's where you can download it to try it out"
(remember, this is only a *demo* too, not even a production
version of OUR product) and the guy at MySQL threatened to
sue us if we did.

I found this VERY disturbing, given that I'm the one that
recommended MySQL to begin with. Can anyone from MySQL confirm
or deny that this would be the case? I mean, if someone downloads
our demo of OUR product and it contains URLs to trial versions of
MySQL (along with URLs to postgres, Informix, Sybase, Oracle, etc)
are we really gonna be sued by MySQL? It seems ... well,
ludicrous and makes me think she (the person who called MySQL)
was talking to some "I_work_on_commission_so_pay_me_or_sod_off"
sort of ninny who didn't really speak for MySQL (or misrepresented
'em).

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license
or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M
ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

--
Mike W

[Brent Bice]

VisionSet wrote:

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license
or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M
ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

The application would be for profit, the demo of the app would
not. I don't think the demo would be under a GPL license because
we don't give away the source. The demo has a 15 day license to
allow the user to try out our product but that's it.

But the point is that we were told that even if we didn't ship
the demo with MySQL, but merely tell the user that MySQL is one of
the databases the demo will work with that we might be sued.

Isn't this a little ridiculous? I mean, it's not like the people
who try out our demo are likely to run it in a production environment.
And if they downloaded MySQL from the MySQL website to try our demo
out they'd know that they had to license MySQL for a
production environment just as surely as they would if they'd
downloaded MySQL for any other purpose. Right?

If we were shipping our demo with mysql and the installer for our
demo also installed mysql, I could see this might be a problem. But
that's not the case at all here. (shrug) If the user already has
Sybase or Oracle or Informix (and probably a lot of other DBs I
don't know about) or if they download a trial version of any of these,
the demo will work fine with them too. So what's the big deal with
adding MySQL to the list of DBs our demo is compatible with? Why
should MySQL be anything but happy that our demo can be used with
their DB (as well as all the others)?

Brent

[Brent Bice]

VisionSet wrote:

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license
or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M
ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

The application would be for profit, the demo of the app would
not. I don't think the demo would be under a GPL license because
we don't give away the source. The demo has a 15 day license to
allow the user to try out our product but that's it.

But the point is that we were told that even if we didn't ship
the demo with MySQL, but merely tell the user that MySQL is one of
the databases the demo will work with that we might be sued.

Isn't this a little ridiculous? I mean, it's not like the people
who try out our demo are likely to run it in a production environment.
And if they downloaded MySQL from the MySQL website to try our demo
out they'd know that they had to license MySQL for a
production environment just as surely as they would if they'd
downloaded MySQL for any other purpose. Right?

If we were shipping our demo with mysql and the installer for our
demo also installed mysql, I could see this might be a problem. But
that's not the case at all here. (shrug) If the user already has
Sybase or Oracle or Informix (and probably a lot of other DBs I
don't know about) or if they download a trial version of any of these,
the demo will work fine with them too. So what's the big deal with
adding MySQL to the list of DBs our demo is compatible with? Why
should MySQL be anything but happy that our demo can be used with
their DB (as well as all the others)?

Brent

[VisionSet]

"Brent Bice" <bb*****@SPAMpersistence.com> wrote in message
news:vr************@corp.supernews.com...

VisionSet wrote:

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

The application would be for profit, the demo of the app would
not. I don't think the demo would be under a GPL license because
we don't give away the source. The demo has a 15 day license to
allow the user to try out our product but that's it.

But the point is that we were told that even if we didn't ship
the demo with MySQL, but merely tell the user that MySQL is one of
the databases the demo will work with that we might be sued.

Isn't this a little ridiculous? I mean, it's not like the people
who try out our demo are likely to run it in a production environment.
And if they downloaded MySQL from the MySQL website to try our demo
out they'd know that they had to license MySQL for a
production environment just as surely as they would if they'd
downloaded MySQL for any other purpose. Right?

If we were shipping our demo with mysql and the installer for our
demo also installed mysql, I could see this might be a problem. But
that's not the case at all here. (shrug) If the user already has
Sybase or Oracle or Informix (and probably a lot of other DBs I
don't know about) or if they download a trial version of any of these,
the demo will work fine with them too. So what's the big deal with
adding MySQL to the list of DBs our demo is compatible with? Why
should MySQL be anything but happy that our demo can be used with
their DB (as well as all the others)?

I don't think you have a leg to stand on if you don't use the GPL. I think
this is basically the one pertinent fact.

Well in my case I shall take this silence to mean 'we'd really like to make
some money out of you but there is no way we're going to either admit that
the licence lets you do what you want for free or post any untruths in our
name to attempt to achieve this'

--
Mike W

[VisionSet]

"Brent Bice" <bb*****@SPAMpersistence.com> wrote in message
news:vr************@corp.supernews.com...

VisionSet wrote:

You haven't mentioned whether your application will be under the GPL license or not.
It is my understanding that if (and only if) it is then you can distribute M ySQL commercially for profit with your own application.
It is this that I would like clarifying.

The application would be for profit, the demo of the app would
not. I don't think the demo would be under a GPL license because
we don't give away the source. The demo has a 15 day license to
allow the user to try out our product but that's it.

But the point is that we were told that even if we didn't ship
the demo with MySQL, but merely tell the user that MySQL is one of
the databases the demo will work with that we might be sued.

Isn't this a little ridiculous? I mean, it's not like the people
who try out our demo are likely to run it in a production environment.
And if they downloaded MySQL from the MySQL website to try our demo
out they'd know that they had to license MySQL for a
production environment just as surely as they would if they'd
downloaded MySQL for any other purpose. Right?

If we were shipping our demo with mysql and the installer for our
demo also installed mysql, I could see this might be a problem. But
that's not the case at all here. (shrug) If the user already has
Sybase or Oracle or Informix (and probably a lot of other DBs I
don't know about) or if they download a trial version of any of these,
the demo will work fine with them too. So what's the big deal with
adding MySQL to the list of DBs our demo is compatible with? Why
should MySQL be anything but happy that our demo can be used with
their DB (as well as all the others)?

I don't think you have a leg to stand on if you don't use the GPL. I think
this is basically the one pertinent fact.

Well in my case I shall take this silence to mean 'we'd really like to make
some money out of you but there is no way we're going to either admit that
the licence lets you do what you want for free or post any untruths in our
name to attempt to achieve this'

--
Mike W

[Brent Bice]

Apologies for the delayed reply - 'was on vacation last week.

VisionSet wrote:

I don't think you have a leg to stand on if you don't use the GPL. I think
this is basically the one pertinent fact.
So... If someone is writing an application that isn't GPL'd,
they may not even make it compatible with MySQL? They aren't even
permitted to include something in the documentation along the lines
of: "Sybase can be purchased at http://www.sybase.com/, Oracle can
be purchased at http://www.oracle.com/, MySQL can be purchased at
http://www.mysql.org/, .... and one of these is required to run our
application." ?

If this is the case, I'm SURE there are a jillion or so apps
out there that people have written that just happen to be compatible
with ODBC (and thus, with MySQL) and they should all be sued at
once because they're not GPL'd apps.
Well in my case I shall take this silence to mean 'we'd really like to make
some money out of you but there is no way we're going to either admit that
the licence lets you do what you want for free or post any untruths in our
name to attempt to achieve this'

Huh? So somehow, because an application just happens to be
compatible with ODBC, it's suddenly the application developer's
fault if someone downloads MySQL and doesn't pay for it? We're
not trying to "make money out of you" or at MySQL's expense and
implying we are simply because our demo is compatible with MySQL
(via ODBC) seems like an ad hominem attack to me.

Obviously, anyone who uses MySQL for commercial use or in a
production environment should pay for it. (shrug) That's not what
I'm questioning. I'm just wondering if they're allowed to download
MySQL to try it out before buying it, why would it be NOT allowed for
other application developers to list MySQL as one of the databases the
application works with?

Sheesh. I never expected to see such hostility here either.
I guess we'll just have to point out that the demo works with
most ODBC compliant databases and list all the databases we've
tried it with EXCEPT MySQL. (shrug) It's no big deal to me -- I
just wanted to see MySQL listed as one of the databases because I
LIKED MySQL from what little I've seen of it fiddling with it on
my linux boxes at home, not out of any deep, dark, ulterior motives.

Brent

[Brent Bice]

Apologies for the delayed reply - 'was on vacation last week.

VisionSet wrote:

I don't think you have a leg to stand on if you don't use the GPL. I think
this is basically the one pertinent fact.
So... If someone is writing an application that isn't GPL'd,
they may not even make it compatible with MySQL? They aren't even
permitted to include something in the documentation along the lines
of: "Sybase can be purchased at http://www.sybase.com/, Oracle can
be purchased at http://www.oracle.com/, MySQL can be purchased at
http://www.mysql.org/, .... and one of these is required to run our
application." ?

If this is the case, I'm SURE there are a jillion or so apps
out there that people have written that just happen to be compatible
with ODBC (and thus, with MySQL) and they should all be sued at
once because they're not GPL'd apps.
Well in my case I shall take this silence to mean 'we'd really like to make
some money out of you but there is no way we're going to either admit that
the licence lets you do what you want for free or post any untruths in our
name to attempt to achieve this'

Huh? So somehow, because an application just happens to be
compatible with ODBC, it's suddenly the application developer's
fault if someone downloads MySQL and doesn't pay for it? We're
not trying to "make money out of you" or at MySQL's expense and
implying we are simply because our demo is compatible with MySQL
(via ODBC) seems like an ad hominem attack to me.

Obviously, anyone who uses MySQL for commercial use or in a
production environment should pay for it. (shrug) That's not what
I'm questioning. I'm just wondering if they're allowed to download
MySQL to try it out before buying it, why would it be NOT allowed for
other application developers to list MySQL as one of the databases the
application works with?

Sheesh. I never expected to see such hostility here either.
I guess we'll just have to point out that the demo works with
most ODBC compliant databases and list all the databases we've
tried it with EXCEPT MySQL. (shrug) It's no big deal to me -- I
just wanted to see MySQL listed as one of the databases because I
LIKED MySQL from what little I've seen of it fiddling with it on
my linux boxes at home, not out of any deep, dark, ulterior motives.

Brent