Effect of the MySQL FLOSS License Exception?

No Spam nospam at pixelglow.com
Wed Jun 16 09:21:38 UTC 2004


Hi all,

A short while back in May, MySQL submitted its FLOSS License Exception for comments.

http://zak.greant.com:8888/licensing/getfile/licensing/FLOSS-exception.txt?v=1.4

I'm surely missing something not having legal training, but what is the net effect of that?

Term 0 says "you are free to distribute Derivative Works... without affecting license terms of the works", but subterm a says "you obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for ... the Derivative Work".

Do I interpret this correctly as: if I combine my BSD code with MySQL, I can keep the BSD license I have, but I have to follow GPL terms including reciprocating for my BSD code? i.e. my code may not be de jure GPL, but it is de facto GPL?

(I had thought "except for identifiable sections of that work which are not derived from the Program, and which can reasonably be considered independent and separate works in themselves" was a significant exception, but then re-reading the last bit of GPL clause 2 seems to indicate GPL already does have this exception).

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

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