Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
posted mailed Martin Koegler wrote: The newer MySQL client libraries are GPL (with the FLOSS exception), older versions were LGPL. At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html MySQL has put a descrption of their network protocol, where they force programs using this protocol to be GPL: The MySQL Protocol is proprietary. The MySQL Protocol is part of the MySQL Database Management System. As such, it falls under the provisions of the GNU Public License (GPL). A copy of the GNU Public License is available on MySQL's web site, and in the product download. Because this is a GPL protocol, any product which uses it to connect to a MySQL server, or to emulate a MySQL server, or to interpose between any client and server which uses the protocol, or for any similar purpose, is also bound by the GPL. Therefore if you use this description to write a program, you must release your program as GPL. Contact MySQL AB if you need clarification of these terms or if you need to ask about alternative This is crack-smoking. A protocol can't be copyrighted. If you use the actual text of the protocol description, you would be using a GPL'ed, copyrighted work. If you just implement the protocol, you're not subject to any copyright restrictions. Does this affect all non GPL MySQL Clients (eg. libmysqlclient10)? mfg Martin Kögler -- ksig --random|
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
On 10/11/05, Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html Under the laws of the GNU Republic (MySQL district), all works are derived (in metaphysical sense) from some other preexisting GPL'd work(s) and hence fall under the GPL right from the beginning... hence you must pay extra to free newly created works from the GPL. Then comes the hurdle of GPL incompatibility -- the effect that is meant to REcontaminate non-GPL'd works with the GNU General Public virus when non-GPL'd works come in contact with the GPL'd works. And once again you must pay extra (negotiate linking exceptions) to keep non-GPL'd works free from the GPL. Free as in freedom, you know. regards, alexander.
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
On 10/13/05, Alexander Terekhov [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 10/11/05, Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html Under the laws of the GNU Republic (MySQL district), all works are derived (in metaphysical sense) from some other preexisting GPL'd work(s) and hence fall under the GPL right from the beginning... And crack cocaine is free, rainbows are always in the air, and there is peace in the middle east. I just read that licensing provision. Whomever wrote that was high. By the logic they've presented, they're breaking the GPL by offering a non-GPL license version of MySQL that will install and run on a Linux operating system. The Linux OS is GPL software, therefore if MySQL is able to talk to that software using the GPL licensed methods and syscalls that Linux provides, it is a derived work of Linux and must also fall under the GPL. Installations using GPL MySQL code may continue to do so, but any installations using the commercial license must cease using the software and uninstall it. They're all on crack. :-P -- Chris `The enemy we fight has no respect for human life or human rights. They don't deserve our sympathy,' he said. `But this isn't about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies.' - Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
Alexander Terekhov [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On 10/11/05, Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html Under the laws of the GNU Republic (MySQL district), all works are derived (in metaphysical sense) from some other preexisting GPL'd work(s) and hence Not just from preexisting works, they can be derived from works to be written later too. Some of the regulars here have repeatedly asserted the equivalent of this. -- Måns Rullgård [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
Scripsit Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html MySQL has put a descrption of their network protocol, where they force programs using this protocol to be GPL: The MySQL Protocol is proprietary. The MySQL Protocol is part of the MySQL Database Management System. As such, it falls under the provisions of the GNU Public License (GPL). I am unaware of any legal theory under which a _protocol_ in itself is subject to copyright. A protocol might conceivably be *patented* in a sufficiently insane jurisdiction, but there is no way that *copyright* can prevent people from implementing the protocol. Hence no copyright license such as the GPL is needed. Because this is a GPL protocol, any product which uses it to connect to a MySQL server, or to emulate a MySQL server, or to interpose between any client and server which uses the protocol, or for any similar purpose, is also bound by the GPL. This does not make any sense. The GPL is a text that describes conditions under which certain software may be _copied_ in original or modified form. It does not speak abot a right to implement a protocol, nor does it purport to grant such a right subject to an conditions. Therefore if you use this description to write a program, you must release your program as GPL. That is at best a horrible misunderstanding, at worst an outright lie. -- Henning Makholm ... not one has been remembered from the time when the author studied freshman physics. Quite the contrary: he merely remembers that such and such is true, and to explain it he invents a demonstration at the moment it is needed. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
On Tue, Oct 11, 2005 at 08:01:40PM +0200, Martin Koegler wrote: The newer MySQL client libraries are GPL (with the FLOSS exception), older versions were LGPL. So, if you base your non GPL program on the older version, you are in the clear. Right? :) Justin -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The newer MySQL client libraries are GPL (with the FLOSS exception), older versions were LGPL. At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html MySQL has put a descrption of their network protocol, where they force programs using this protocol to be GPL: The MySQL Protocol is proprietary. The MySQL Protocol is part of the MySQL Database Management System. As such, it falls under the provisions of the GNU Public License (GPL). A copy of the GNU Public License is available on MySQL's web site, and in the product download. Because this is a GPL protocol, any product which uses it to connect to a MySQL server, or to emulate a MySQL server, or to interpose between any client and server which uses the protocol, or for any similar purpose, is also bound by the GPL. Therefore if you use this description to write a program, you must release your program as GPL. Contact MySQL AB if you need clarification of these terms or if you need to ask about alternative arrangements. What are those people smoking? Writing a program that implements a protocol does not in any way I've ever heard of create anything derived from the protocol specification. An MPEG decoder is not a derivative of the MPEG specification (patents issues are unrelated), and this is no different in principle. Remember that it is perfectly legal to reverse engineer a protocol, and then proceed to write your own programs using it. Surely, there can't be more restrictions when the specification is publicly available. -- Måns Rullgård [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MySQL only useable for GPL clients?
Måns Rullgård [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Martin Koegler [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The newer MySQL client libraries are GPL (with the FLOSS exception), older versions were LGPL. At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html MySQL has put a descrption of their network protocol, where they force programs using this protocol to be GPL: The MySQL Protocol is proprietary. The MySQL Protocol is part of the MySQL Database Management System. As such, it falls under the provisions of the GNU Public License (GPL). A copy of the GNU Public License is available on MySQL's web site, and in the product download. Because this is a GPL protocol, any product which uses it to connect to a MySQL server, or to emulate a MySQL server, or to interpose between any client and server which uses the protocol, or for any similar purpose, is also bound by the GPL. Therefore if you use this description to write a program, you must release your program as GPL. Contact MySQL AB if you need clarification of these terms or if you need to ask about alternative arrangements. What are those people smoking? Writing a program that implements a protocol does not in any way I've ever heard of create anything derived from the protocol specification. An MPEG decoder is not a derivative of the MPEG specification (patents issues are unrelated), and this is no different in principle. Remember that it is perfectly legal to reverse engineer a protocol, and then proceed to write your own programs using it. Surely, there can't be more restrictions when the specification is publicly available. Most likey just a scare tactic to prevent commerical products from connecting to MySQL -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]