Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

[No Spam]

All, esp. John, Rick:

OK, let's suppose the following scenario.

Suppose Gill. W Bates works for Evil Corporation MX and wants to create a new database for public sale called Abcess. He looks at the MySQL code and says, "well the MySQL folk want me to pay for a priopetary license..." but hey, there's the FLOSS License Exception.... so....

Gill decides to make all of Abcess BSD licensed and incorporates MySQL code in it. The Abcess code is reasonably independent from the MySQL code but they are definitely intermingled, linked together in an executable. He merrily releases Abcess (but keeps the source code private which he is allowed to) which squashes every other database and he goes on to become a zillionaire, while MySQL goes broke.

MySQL comes along and says, "Nothing doing, show us your Abcess code". Gill says, "Nothing doing, under your FLOSS Exception, I don't have to." MySQL retorts, "If I wanted to allow you to do that, I would have kept MySQL under LGPL, which allows that!" Gill says, "Well why didn't you?"

So who is right?

[Humor aside, if the code I'm linking with MySQL is on their approved FLOSS list, what functionally is the difference between MySQL being LGPL and it being GPL + FLOSS Exception?]

Cheers,
Glen Low, Pixelglow Software
www.pixelglow.com

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