Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-19 Thread Chuck Swiger
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chuck Swiger scripsit: Someone decides to use X and Y together in a new program, Z. They write a Z.c which includes X.h and Y.h, and then links Z.o with X1.o, X2.o, Y1.o, Y2.o, etc to produce an executable Z. Z derives from both X and Y: it depends on both and cannot

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Eugene Wee
Hi people, I refer to: http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing/foss-exception.html Has anyone contacted MySQL AB about the recent OSI license update, i.e. the AFL is now version 2.1 rather than 2.0? On that note, what about asking about the OSL, since they do claim they have reviewed the most

RE: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
I agree with every point Larry states. I also think that if an author chooses to adopt a license (the GPL) or is concerned about compatibility with the terms of the GPL, the author may find it prudent to take into account the views of the drafter(s) of the GPL...especially if they conflict

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread John Cowan
Lawrence Rosen scripsit: But what is it about the copyright law that leads you to believe that the degree of triviality to wrap a copyrighted work as a black box makes a difference in the definition of a derivative work? For one thing, if the wrapper is too trivial we won't have sufficient

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Alex Rousskov
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004, John Cowan wrote: The sticky point is this: It's settled that a binary is a derivative work of its source. It's obvious that a source tarball is a mere collective work, or aggregation as the GPL calls it. What, then, is the status of a binary

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Chuck Swiger
On Jun 18, 2004, at 10:58 AM, John Cowan wrote: Lawrence Rosen scripsit: But what is it about the copyright law that leads you to believe that the degree of triviality to wrap a copyrighted work as a black box makes a difference in the definition of a derivative work? For one thing, if the wrapper

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread jcowan
Chuck Swiger scripsit: Agreed. For example, Apple has taken the GNU chess program and added a different graphic front-end to make the Chess application run without using X11 under MacOS X. Are Apple's changes to GNU chess original enough to qualify as a derivative work? I think John

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting John Cowan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): It's settled that a binary is a derivative work of its source. It's obvious that a source tarball is a mere collective work, or aggregation as the GPL calls it. What, then, is the status of a binary compiled from the tarball?

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED] ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): If you examine the short stories in a theme anthology, there may be strong connections between them too (and the stronger the connection, the stronger the copyright available on the collective work as such). But a theme anthology is still a

RE: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Lawrence Rosen
John Cowan wrote: It's settled that a binary is a derivative work of its source. It's obvious that a source tarball is a mere collective work, or aggregation as the GPL calls it. What, then, is the status of a binary compiled from the tarball? It evidently is a

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Chuck Swiger
On Jun 18, 2004, at 1:59 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chuck Swiger scripsit: Agreed. For example, Apple has taken the GNU chess program and added a different graphic front-end to make the Chess application run without using X11 under MacOS X. Are Apple's changes to GNU chess original enough to

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Ihab A.B. Awad
On Fri June 18 2004 11:11, Rick Moen wrote: Yes, it would be nice if the concept of derivative work were further clarified (in the software context) by our courts. But I can't see why running it through a compiler would affect anyone's ownership. Well, would it depend on the specifics of the

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting Ihab A.B. Awad ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): On Fri June 18 2004 11:11, Rick Moen wrote: Yes, it would be nice if the concept of derivative work were further clarified (in the software context) by our courts. But I can't see why running it through a compiler would affect anyone's

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread jcowan
Lawrence Rosen scripsit: When did I say no? A binary compiled from the entire tarball is a derivative of the entire source module collection. Of the entire collection, yes. But is it a derivative of *each* source module as well? And each binary module compiled from each of its modules is a

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread jcowan
Rick Moen scripsit: I just had a bizarre mental image of someone saying Nobody can safely write songs about mad dogs and Englishmen any more, because one never knows when the heirs of Noel Coward[1] might bring a lawsuit on a theory of derivative work. In a world in which the Commissioner of

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Ihab A.B. Awad
Thank you for the clarification On Fri June 18 2004 11:56, Rick Moen wrote: Quoting Ihab A.B. Awad ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): On Fri June 18 2004 11:11, Rick Moen wrote: Yes, it would be nice if the concept of derivative work were further clarified (in the software context) by our courts.

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread jcowan
Rick Moen scripsit: Now, avoiding licence conflict is important, and there are often significant issues there, but the allegation (supposedly Prof. Moglen's) we were discussing was actual ownership of code -- the part about a binary being a derivative work of various things. Yes. Is

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED] ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): In fact, there are two tests that I know of for determining derivative-work status: 1) If you never saw the original, your work can't be a derivative of it. 2) Otherwise, the abstraction-filtration-comparison test applies: we reduce the

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread jcowan
Chuck Swiger scripsit: Someone decides to use X and Y together in a new program, Z. They write a Z.c which includes X.h and Y.h, and then links Z.o with X1.o, X2.o, Y1.o, Y2.o, etc to produce an executable Z. Z derives from both X and Y: it depends on both and cannot stand alone. Not

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
Unfortunately, you started off wrong and ended with a questionable observation. First, it is not well settled that a binary is a derivative of source; that is akin to saying a copy is a derivative of the original. In a metaphysical sense, we can debate the point, but there is no debate in the

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-18 Thread John Cowan
Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. scripsit: Unfortunately, you started off wrong and ended with a questionable observation. First, it is not well settled that a binary is a derivative of source; that is akin to saying a copy is a derivative of the original. In a metaphysical sense, we can debate the

RE: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Lawrence Rosen
Glen Low wrote: [Humor aside, if the code I'm linking with MySQL is on their approved FLOSS list, what functionally is the difference between MySQL being LGPL and it being GPL + FLOSS Exception?] Probably no difference at all. This entire matter has been blown way out of proportion because of

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Martin Konold
Am Donnerstag, 17. Juni 2004 06:43 schrieben Sie: Hi, IIRC it's only the client-side code which has the FLOSS exception. The actual database engine is purely GPL. The position of MySQL AB is different. They say to their customers that creating an application which uses MySQL via their API

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting Lawrence Rosen ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): This entire matter has been blown way out of proportion because of the insistence of some that the reciprocity conditions of the GPL or LGPL reach to something more than derivative works. But if you read the actual terms of both licenses carefully

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Zak Greant
Greetings All, It is good to see some additional discussion about this, even if it is a bit belated. ;) In way of a brief update, the exception is currently being reviewed by our lawyers and then should be going through to our CEO for approval. If there is feedback that we can incorporate

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Zak Greant
On Jun 16, 2004, at 22:43, John Cowan wrote: No Spam scripsit: Gill decides to make all of Abcess BSD licensed and incorporates MySQL code in it. The Abcess code is reasonably independent from the MySQL code but they are definitely intermingled, linked together in an executable. He merrily

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting Zak Greant ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): This is close to correct. The FLOSS licensing for the MySQL clients was the LGPL, while the server was GPL'd. Both were available under proprietary terms as well. I should have remembered that, and plead fatigue. Good point. I think that everyone

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting Zak Greant ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): Actually, v0.2 of the exception will apply to both client and server. My personal opinion is that, given the multifarious ways for a sufficiently motivated large organization to crush us like the uppity bugs that we are, we should not lose too much

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Zak Greant
Greetings Larry and All, On Jun 16, 2004, at 23:56, Lawrence Rosen wrote: Glen Low wrote: [Humor aside, if the code I'm linking with MySQL is on their approved FLOSS list, what functionally is the difference between MySQL being LGPL and it being GPL + FLOSS Exception?] Probably no difference at

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Alex Rousskov
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004, Zak Greant wrote: The idea of being able to draw a clear line between derivative and collective works based on treating the Program as a black box with hooks for connectivity makes me very uncomfortable. Why does it make you very uncomfortable? It is generally a

RE: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread Lawrence Rosen
Zak Greant wrote: The idea of being able to draw a clear line between derivative and collective works based on treating the Program as a black box with hooks for connectivity makes me very uncomfortable. It is generally a relatively trivial task to create a GPL-licensed wrapper that allows

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-17 Thread nospam+pixelglow . com
All, esp. Zak: I have found much to admire in MySQL, Trolltech and Sleepycat's dual licensing schemes, in particular I believe it fuels innovation rather than maintenance, while still admirably supporting open sharing. But that's just my opinion. Obviously I'm contemplating using something

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting No Spam ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): A short while back in May, MySQL submitted its FLOSS License Exception for comments. http://zak.greant.com:/licensing/getfile/licensing/FLOSS-exception.txt?v=1.4 I'm surely missing something not having legal training, but what is the net effect of

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread nospam+pixelglow . com
Dear All, esp. Rick: (BTW, apologies for not quoting the context in my messages, it has to do with my webmail client.) I think I understand this a bit better. In GPL clause 2, it says If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread John Cowan
[EMAIL PROTECTED] scripsit: Treatment of independent work under GPL: if combined, all must be under GPL if seperate, each can be under different license No. If you distribute a binary that is compiled from multiple pieces of source some of which are under the GPL, then all the sources must

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread Rick Moen
Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED] ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): (BTW, apologies for not quoting the context in my messages, it has to do with my webmail client.) Not a problem. I think I understand this a bit better. In GPL clause 2, it says If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread No Spam
All, esp. John, Rick: OK, let's suppose the following scenario. Suppose Gill. W Bates works for Evil Corporation MX and wants to create a new database for public sale called Abcess. He looks at the MySQL code and says, well the MySQL folk want me to pay for a priopetary license... but hey,

Re: Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

2004-06-16 Thread John Cowan
No Spam scripsit: Gill decides to make all of Abcess BSD licensed and incorporates MySQL code in it. The Abcess code is reasonably independent from the MySQL code but they are definitely intermingled, linked together in an executable. He merrily releases Abcess (but keeps the source code