On Saturday 08 October 2005 17:35, Chris Browne wrote: > felix@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: > > On Sat, Oct 08, 2005 at 10:31:30AM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: > >> What it comes down to is this. MySQL is dual licensed. You can use > >> the GPL version, or the commercial version. In order to sell the > >> commercially licensed version, MySQL must have the rights to all the > >> code in their base. So, in order for MySQL to sell a commercail > >> version of MySQL with innodb support, they have to pay innobase a > >> bit to include it, or rip it out. > > > > I don't understand. If both MySQL and Innodb are GPL licensed, > > commercial or not should make no difference, and they can add all the > > GPL changes they want o the last Innodb GPL release. > > > > What am I missing? > > If they do not hold a fairly unrestricted license to *resell* InnoDB, > then MySQL AB would be unable to sell "traditional proprietary > commercial licenses" to the combination of MySQL and InnoDB, which is > the way that they actually _make money_. > > Based on the comments in Oracle's press release, it appears that MySQL > AB *does* have some form of contract with InnoDB Oy Inc to resell > InnoDB, but that contract expires some time next year. > > If the contract is not renewed, then MySQL AB would only be permitted > to link MySQL (tm) to InnoDB under the conditions of the GPL, which > would mean that MySQL AB could only distribute a MySQL(tm)/InnoDB(tm) > combination under the conditions of the GPL. > > This would essentially *destroy* their revenue model, which is > predicated on the notion of selling people a "traditional proprietary > license" to MySQL+InnoDB on the basis that they should be fearful of > GPL-licensed software as it always forces you to release your code > "for free." (There's some truth to this, but possibly not as much as > MySQL AB would have you believe.) Didn't MySQL AB acquire SAPdb (which was Adabas D before)? AFAIK (and you're welcome to correct me since I might very well be wrong) SAPdb supports transactions and foreign keys. If that's the case MySQL AB might be in a position to offer the bells and whistles without InnoDB support if they work out the deficiencies of SAPdb. -- UC -- Open Source Solutions 4U, LLC 2570 Fleetwood Drive Phone: +1 650 872 2425 San Bruno, CA 94066 Cell: +1 650 302 2405 United States Fax: +1 650 872 2417 ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
