MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL [LWN.net]

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted May 15, 2014 19:18 UTC (Thu) by bkuhn (subscriber, #58642)
In reply to: MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL by pricechild
Parent article: Collaborative GPL enforcement

> Is this an inference based on their android lawsuit or really a statement Oracle has made?

My statement in the talk was actually based on statements made to various parties who MySQL AB "shook down" just before the time of the Sun purchase of MySQL AB. I heard from many people that Sun was much less aggressive on the MySQL shake-downs, and that Oracle brought back the old days of it. (I also had first-hand conversations with MySQL "sales staff", who even tried to hire me as a "consultant" at one point that helped confirm some nasty interpretations of GPL were going on at the old MySQL AB.)

The sad part is that I have been completely unable to get anyone to go on record about getting one of these "shake downs". They are all terrified, because they rely on MySQL commercially and fear getting sued by Oracle. I've offered myself as an expert witness and even offered to help if they wanted to file a declaratory judgment case, but no one wants to.

Anyone who uses MySQL commercially lives in fear of these Oracle shake downs, and it gives honest, community-oriented GPL enforcement a bad name.

If someone wants to put in the sleuthing time to dig deeper on the story (I'm looking at you, LWN staff ;), I can share a whole list of off-the-record contacts who'd probably be willing to tell you the same stories they've told me.

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted May 16, 2014 8:25 UTC (Fri) by pricechild (subscriber, #78087) [Link]

Thanks very much for your response, it's really appreciated!

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted Jun 21, 2014 11:29 UTC (Sat) by sitaram (guest, #5959) [Link] (3 responses)

I thought the *client* libraries moved from LGPL to GPL, and that is the cause of the shakedown. Saying this is because of "sending SQL statements to a MySQL server" sounds a little off, or at least subject to mis-interpretation.

I suppose in theory you could do that with a completely rewritten client side.

The usual short term solution is to switch to (the currrently plug-compatible) MariaDB. In the long term, however, that won't wash. Maria is not a solution; Monty Widenius and co are sure to do exactly the same LGPL-to-GPL bait-and-switch that they pulled with MySQL.

Friends don't let friends use projects that mandate copyright assignment (even if it is non-exclusive) to a for-profit entity.

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted Jun 22, 2014 15:19 UTC (Sun) by rschroev (subscriber, #4164) [Link] (2 responses)

Is it possible to use the MariaDB client library to talk to a MySQL server?

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted Jun 22, 2014 16:19 UTC (Sun) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

IANAL but my understanding is, yes

http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2012/12/26/the-state-of-mysql-c...
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-client-library-for-c/
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/licensing-faq/

MySQL servers requiring clients be GPL

Posted Jun 22, 2014 20:51 UTC (Sun) by clemensg (guest, #94377) [Link]

I think it is. But better take a look at: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-versus-mysql-compatibil...