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Posted to legal-discuss@apache.org by Mike Heath <mh...@apache.org> on 2007/04/06 02:21:07 UTC
MySQL licensing policy
As part of my grad school studies, I've been looking into the idea of
event-driven asynchronous database drivers. When I'm done with my
research for school, I would like to look into donating my work to the
MINA project.
As I embark on this research, I started looking at the MySQL
documentation for their over-wire protocol. I read something in their
internals manual that doesn't really make sense to me.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html
The way I understand it, MySQL AB is basically saying that any
implementation of the MySQL protocol is a derivative work of the MySQL
server and must therefor be licensed under the GPL. This is
incongruent with projects like Samba that have reversed engineered
Microsoft protocols. Is MySQL AB's policy really enforceable?
The part of their notice that really caught my attentions was the part
that says, "Therefore if you use this description to write a program,
you must release your program as GPL." How is this at all
enforceable? Section 5 of the GPL says very clearly that the only way
I agree to the GPL is by redistributing something licensed under the
GPL. The GPL is what grants me the right to do something that would
otherwise be illegal according to copyright law. I don't need to
agree to the GPL to read something posted on a publicly accessible web
server but could any implementation of what they describe in their
manual be considered a derivative work?
If anyone has any insight into this it would be very helpful.
-Mike
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RE: MySQL licensing policy
Posted by Lawrence Rosen <lr...@rosenlaw.com>.
I have asked the general counsel at MySQL for clarification. Much of their
licensing statement seems over-reaching to me. I'll let you know when he
responds. /Larry Rosen
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Torsten Curdt [mailto:tcurdt@apache.org]
> Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 10:54 AM
> To: Mike Heath
> Cc: legal-discuss@apache.org
> Subject: Re: MySQL licensing policy
>
> > The way I understand it, MySQL AB is basically saying that any
> > implementation of the MySQL protocol is a derivative work of the MySQL
> > server and must therefor be licensed under the GPL. This is
> > incongruent with projects like Samba that have reversed engineered
> > Microsoft protocols. Is MySQL AB's policy really enforceable?
>
> IANAL ...but I see a difference to Samba. Samba has been implemented
> without any documentation about the protocol. And they were really
> carefully to make sure that was the case.
>
> IMO implementing a protocol forcing a license onto the actual
> implementation is absolutely wrong - but that is just my personal
> opinion.
>
> > If anyone has any insight into this it would be very helpful.
>
> Maybe you should rather ask the FSF?
>
> cheers
> --
> Torsten
>
>
>
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> DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
> only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
> constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
> and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
> official ASF policies and documents.
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DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
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and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
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Re: MySQL licensing policy
Posted by Torsten Curdt <tc...@apache.org>.
> The way I understand it, MySQL AB is basically saying that any
> implementation of the MySQL protocol is a derivative work of the MySQL
> server and must therefor be licensed under the GPL. This is
> incongruent with projects like Samba that have reversed engineered
> Microsoft protocols. Is MySQL AB's policy really enforceable?
IANAL ...but I see a difference to Samba. Samba has been implemented
without any documentation about the protocol. And they were really
carefully to make sure that was the case.
IMO implementing a protocol forcing a license onto the actual
implementation is absolutely wrong - but that is just my personal
opinion.
> If anyone has any insight into this it would be very helpful.
Maybe you should rather ask the FSF?
cheers
--
Torsten
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DISCLAIMER: Discussions on this list are informational and educational
only. Statements made on this list are not privileged, do not
constitute legal advice, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
and policies of the ASF. See <http://www.apache.org/licenses/> for
official ASF policies and documents.
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