Sorry no, this sucks! [LWN.net]

Sorry no, this sucks!

Posted May 28, 2003 8:07 UTC (Wed) by dion (guest, #2764)
In reply to: MySQL AB and SAP AG Partner to Build New Open Source Databases by coriordan
Parent article: MySQL AB and SAP AG Partner to Build New Open Source Databases

This is a major step backwards for SAP DB.

There are two major problems with this change:

The license; SAP DB is currently licened under the GPL for the DBMS server and LGPL for the client libs, when it gets mysql branded the client libs are going to be GPL which means that the current users who do not license their applications under GPL are fucked.
The name; MySQL is still known for being "slightly better than a text file" for datastorage, even with innodb it's still just a limited toy, compared to SAP DB, managers and customers know this so it's going to be harder to sell a solution based on "mysql enterprise" in stead of SAP DB.

There are many of the current users of SAP DB that are angry and disappointed by this and we might end up having to fork the current SAP DB sources to keep the LGPL'ed client lib available.

All in all this is not good news, it's removing freedom (LGPL->GPL) from the current users who have helped debug and advocate the current SAP DB product, it's entirely legal, but those of us who feel we have a non-code stake in SAP DB feels it's unfair to remove the freedom we currently have to use the DBMS from non-GPL applications.

to post comments

Why ?

Posted May 28, 2003 9:04 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] (5 responses)

Huh. Why the hell client libs will become GPL ??? MySQL client libs was LGPLed for a long time and last time I've checked (MySQL 4.1.0-alpha) they were still LGPLed. If they like to use Embedded MySQL it's other story, of course but I can hardly call Embedded MySQL "client libs".

"Slightly better than a text file" perception is just name calling IMNSHO and hardly reason to fork.

Why ?

Posted May 28, 2003 14:41 UTC (Wed) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] (1 responses)

"Slightly better than a text file" perception is just name calling

Indeed. MySQL's minimalist approach has resulted in a product with higher performance and fewer bugs than is typical of modern software products, which is probably why they have millions of users.

Why ?

Posted May 30, 2003 22:09 UTC (Fri) by leandro (guest, #1460) [Link]

> MySQL's minimalist approach

You may call it minimalist. I call it insufficient.

> approach has resulted in a product with higher performance

Yes, if you ignore the performance hint and added risks of doing consistency in the application instead of the database.

> and fewer bugs

Nice answer to complexity: transfer it to someone else! So if you don't want to risk bugs in the DBMS, deny functionality so that it has to implemented, bugs and all, in the application.

> than is typical of modern software products

PostgreSQL is neither new nor buggy. Nor are SAPdb, Interbase or IBM DB2. What are you comparing to, Oracle or MS SQL Server?

LGPL -> GPL = less freedom

Posted May 28, 2003 15:02 UTC (Wed) by dion (guest, #2764) [Link] (2 responses)

You ask why mysql wants to license the client libs under GPL, well that's easy, it's so they can sell the people who write non-free software a commercial license, go read:

Any way you cut it this is a move that will only hurt the current users of SAP DB.

LGPL, "Lesser", since it does less to protect our freedom

Posted May 28, 2003 18:11 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

The MySQL AB approach gives companies two choices:
1) Release their software as Free Software
2) Keep the code proprietary and help finance a good free software company

If a company wants to use MySQL without contributing either code or cash, they are just a parasite.

Ciaran O'Riordan

LGPL -> GPL = less freedom

Posted May 29, 2003 16:46 UTC (Thu) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link]

Looks like MySQL AB silently changed licensing terms. They kept COPYING.LIB in distribution and changelog only mentions one change in licensing:

Changes in release 3.23.19
--------------------------

   * Changed copyright for all files to `GPL' for the server code and
     utilities and to LGPL for the client libraries.

but libmysql 4+ actually refers not to LGPL but to GPL now. Oops.