* Stéphane Bischoff
> Thank you for all your response, but my question is very simple :
>
> Example :
>
> We have company 1 that make's a product that communicate with MySQL server
> using TCP/IP.
> This product (company 1) does not use the MySQL client to connect to MySQL
> server. (Don't ask me how, I don't know)
> (By the way, this product really exist, that is why I am asking this
> question).
>
> Therefore, if Company 2 has a MySQL server (commercial license) and
> purchases 100 product from company 1,
> does company 2 need a 100 MySQL client or driver licenses ???
>
> I believe not (2 reasons)
>
> 1 - I paid company 1 for its product.
> 2 - the product does not use MySQL client to connect to MySQL server.
>
> This is what is bugging me, can you help ?
I'm no lawyer either, but I find this quote from the mysql download pages
informative and to the point... slightly paraphrased:
"You need to purchase commercial non-GPL MySQL licenses if you distribute
MySQL Software with your non open source software."
If "company 1" does not distribute MySQL software (C API included), they
don't need a licence. "Company 2" is the customer in this case, and does not
need a licence in any case. ("Need" as in "have to", they may need/want it
because of warranty and/or community support issues.)
If the product _really_ can connect to the server without client software...
I don't know... check this:
<URL: http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html >
More specifically 3b: "If you include one of the MySQL drivers in your non
Open Source application (so that your application can run with MySQL), you
need a commercial licence for the driver(s) in question."
...so that your application can run with MySQL... it is implied that you can
not communicate with the server without a client, and that any client would
be considered derived from the GPL'ed MySQL client...?
Also note this snippet from the GPL FAQ:
* Ron Albright
[...]
> From the GPL FAQ (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html):
[...]
> Combining two modules means connecting them together so that they form a
> single larger program. If either part is covered by the GPL, the whole
> combination must also be released under the GPL--if you can't, or
> won't, do that, you may not combine them.
[...]
> By contrast, pipes, sockets and command-line arguments are communication
> mechanisms normally used between two separate programs. So when they are
> used for communication, the modules normally are separate
> programs. But if the semantics of the communication are intimate enough,
> exchanging complex
> internal data structures, that too could be a basis to consider the two
> parts as combined into a larger program.
One could argue that the product delivered by "company 1" is a "combined
larger program", depending on what kind of product it is. But again, this
would not change the situation for "Company 2".
--
Roger
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