OVPL - time for the client to speak directly?

[Arjen Lentz]

Hi David,

David Ryan wrote:
> The second reason the OVLPL was important was because I did want to 
> create a business model which would result in some income.  The OVLPL 
> allowed me to charge for commercial license in those situations where a 
> company was distributing code based on the runtime library.  The flip 
> side of this was that I wanted to ensure people developing open source 
> software could use the same library.  Instead of using the GPL and 
> reducing the license choice to only the GPL, I wanted a license which 
> would allow the library to be used in any OSI approved license.  I still 
> believe that this type of license would still be a valuable addition to 
> the currently available licenses (ie without the license back provision).

This can be done already, since the GPL allows the copyright holder to 
grant rights in additional to those specified in the GPL.

MySQL has its FLOSS Licensing Exception (see 
http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/foss-exception.html) which 
allows pretty much any other (OSI approved) licensed code to be linked 
with the GPL licensed MySQL *client* libraries.

The naming is a bit unfortunate, since it's actually a licensing 
EXTENSION rather than an exception... but anyway. It does the trick.


Regards,
Arjen.
-- 
Arjen Lentz, Community Relations Manager, MySQL AB
Program Chair, MySQL Users Conference

MySQL Users Conference 2006 (Santa Clara CA, 24-27 April)
http://www.mysqluc.com/