Re: Response from MySql AB (Re: Humor me: Postgresql vs.

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 jearl(at)bullysports(dot)com wrote:

> Andrew Sullivan <andrew(at)libertyrms(dot)info> writes:
>
> > On Thu, Oct 09, 2003 at 08:52:36AM -0600, scott.marlowe wrote:
> >> Fact: If you write your application to work with ODBC -> MySQL
> >> connectivity, you can write a closed source app and sell it for money and
> >
> > Fact: nobody's ever tested any of this in court, so you're basically
> > risking it.
> >
> > I think if people want legal advice about the status of MySQL's
> > claims about GPL, they'd best consult a lawyer who knows a lot about
> > software licenses.
>
> This is especially true considering the fact that the Free Software
> Foundation would *love* for MySQL AB to be right on this one. The
> interpretation of the GPL the FSF forwards is the one that they feel
> that they can safely defend in a court of law. However, if there was
> a precedent set for MySQL AB's interpretation that would suit them
> right down to the ground.

'K, you lost me here ... from what I've seen, MySQL AB's license is "GPL
with exceptions that force you to use our commercial version" ... whereas
my understanding of the GPL itself is that there are no exceptions, period
...