On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 12:25 PM, Kushal Kumaran <kushal.kumaran+pyt...@gmail.com> wrote: > Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> writes: > >> On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 7:24 AM, Ben Finney <ben+pyt...@benfinney.id.au> >> wrote: >>> * MySQL's development has suffered under Sun, and become virtually >>> moribund under Oracle. They operate as a closed shop, occasionally >>> tossing GPL-licensed releases over the wall, with very little input >>> accepted from the community. >> >> I don't know whether it's a legit concern or pure FUD, but it's been >> suggested that since the MySQL license is GPL and not LGPL, any code >> that links against it is forced to be GPL too. I'm not sure how far >> that goes (eg if you're using it from Python, at what point does it >> stop being "code linked to GPL code" and start being a discrete >> system), and IANAL, but I prefer to work with systems with more >> freedom in their licensing. PostgreSQL is under a BSD-like license, so >> it can be used without issues. >> > > Oracle have a page about this: > http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/foss-exception/
Thanks, I was working from memory and wasn't sure. So yes, it's a fully legit issue, and it basically means you can't use MySQL with any proprietary code. So if I create a thin wrapper around libmysql, release that wrapper under the BSD 2-clause license (which is listed among the valid licenses - at least, I'm guessing that they mean the 2-clause), and then use that wrapper in a proprietary project, is that valid? This is getting ridiculously messy, and I'm definitely glad now not using MySQL at work. > As far as python goes, there are at least two pure-python > implementations of the mysql protocol available: > > - https://github.com/petehunt/PyMySQL (MIT license) That should be perfectly legal then. You're not linking against any GPL'd code, you're just connecting via a TCP socket to a GPL application. Really, I don't see what GPLing the client library achieves, other than creating a mess for people. ChrisA -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
