"You need a license if you sell a product designed specifically for use with MySQL or that requires the MySQL server to function at all. This is true whether or not you provide MySQL for your client as part of your product distribution."
Does this mean that I must make all of my web sites non-commercial? (since I use mySQL as my main DBMS)
No. The instructor at the MySql training class I attended, who is an employee of MySql AB, specifically mentioned this example. In the case of a website, you are not distributing Mysql or any MySQL library or components to your end users. So no MySql Commercial license is required.
#2 (allowing free use) from the licensing page would apply to any normal website.
#3b (requiring a commercial license) would cover a non-gpl product built using mysql drivers to connect to mysql, regardless of whether or not you ship the mysql server with your app.
I suppose that if you used some non-GPL driver in your app, and didn't ship the Mysql server or any libraries, then there is nothing requiring a commercial license. But I'm not sure if there is such a driver out there.
I think the MySql licensing page is intentionally ambigous (at least slightly), to get more people to buy the commercial license. In fact, there are several places on the page that pretty much admit this.
Here's a link to the page, and two parts referenced above:
http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html
"2. Free use for those who never copy, modify or distribute
As long as you never distribute (internally or externally) the MySQL Software in any way, you are free to use it for powering your application, irrespective of whether your application is under GPL or other OSI approved license or not.
3. Commercial use for everyone else
If your application is not licensed under GPL or compatible OSI license approved by MySQL AB and you intend to distribute MySQL software (be that internally or externally), you must first obtain a commercial license to the MySQL software in question.
More specifically:
a) If you include the MySQL server in your non Open Source application, you need a commercial licence for the MySQL server
b) 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. The MySQL drivers currently include an ODBC driver, a JDBC driver and the C language library.
c) If you use MySQL Software within your organisation and you don't want to risk it falling under the GPL license, you are welcome to purchase a commercial license.
d) Many users opt for the commercial licence simply because under it MySQL AB takes responsibility for its products. Under the GPL licence, there are no warranties or representations from the developer (i.e. from MySQL AB)."
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