Clarifying the MySQL Licensing Policy Documents

[Zak Greant]

Greetings All,

As a way to cooperatively work to address some of the licensing 
concerns held by members of the MySQL community and the broader Free 
Software/Open Source community, we are initiating a community review of 
our licensing policy documents.

This means that we are soliciting feedback about issues in the policy 
documents that people find inaccurate or unclear. From this feedback we 
will work to improve the policy documents.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will address or accept all 
of the issues raised or suggestions made. The licensing is both complex 
and is the cornerstone of our business. Past experience shows that we 
must work carefully, incrementally and with community involvement in 
this area. As with development of the FLOSS exception though, I hope 
that we can reach a compromise that is satisfactory for almost 
everyone.

If you wish to participate, the process for doing so is simple.

Review some or all of the following documents:
  * http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing/
  * http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing/commercial-license.html
  * http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing/opensource-license.html
  * http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing/faq.html

When you encounter an issue that you find confusing or inaccurate, 
please send a note to the MySQL community list or to me personally on 
the issue:

Ideally the note will state:
  * where the issue is (which document, where in the document)
  * what specific aspects of the issue concern you
  * the severity of the issue (is it cosmetic, minor or major)
  * a suggested fix or set of fixes

You are also welcome to directly file an issue report in the system 
that I use for tracking these issues. Visit 
http://zak.greant.com:8888/licensing/tktnew to do so.

I would like the discussion to take place on the MySQL community list, 
as it is easier to keep track of the issues in a single, low-traffic 
setting. I prefer not to Cc the MySQL General list beyond this initial 
email, so as to avoid cluttering an already busy mailing list.

An initial list of issues raised by various community members exist at:
  * http://zak.greant.com:8888/licensing/tktview?tn=32
  * http://zak.greant.com:8888/licensing/tktview?tn=40

I am currently working on new draft policy documents to correct some of 
the simple issues and errors, and hope to post it next week for 
community review after it goes through internal review.


Cheers!
-- 
Zak Greant
MySQL AB Community Advocate