MySQL dual license policy

I am new to the MySQL community. But after reading MySQL's dual license
policy, I have the following hypothetical questions.

1. if there is a fix to a bug or a major feature is contributed to
MySQL's "GPL-version" of the code, in theory, that enhancement should
be protected under GPL. So, how can MySQL AB merge that enhancement
into its commercial package, and keep the same release contents for
both of its GPL and commercial packages?

2. What if somebody tick off another GPL project, say "OurSQL", which
starts from the MySQL code base. Does that means "OurSQL" will be a
totally GPL-licensed project, and can declared "independence" from
MySQL AB?


Ben

Ben K wrote:
> I am new to the MySQL community. But after reading MySQL's dual license
> policy, I have the following hypothetical questions.
>
> 1. if there is a fix to a bug or a major feature is contributed to
> MySQL's "GPL-version" of the code, in theory, that enhancement should
> be protected under GPL. So, how can MySQL AB merge that enhancement
> into its commercial package, and keep the same release contents for
> both of its GPL and commercial packages?

AFAIK, they hold the copyright (licensor), so are free to license all
code in question under multiple licenses. (This is an established
model.)

>
> 2. What if somebody tick off another GPL project, say "OurSQL", which
> starts from the MySQL code base. Does that means "OurSQL" will be a
> totally GPL-licensed project, and can declared "independence" from
> MySQL AB?

Yes - a.k.a. forking.

>
>
> Ben

"Ben K" <benkial@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I am new to the MySQL community. But after reading MySQL's dual license
> policy, I have the following hypothetical questions.
>
> 1. if there is a fix to a bug or a major feature is contributed to
> MySQL's "GPL-version" of the code, in theory, that enhancement should
> be protected under GPL. So, how can MySQL AB merge that enhancement
> into its commercial package, and keep the same release contents for
> both of its GPL and commercial packages?

If somebody asks MySQL AB to include his patch into MySQL (the program)
then MySQL AB asks for the permission to use this patch in the
commercial version of MySQL as well. If this permission is denied, the
patch will make it neither in the GPL nor in the commercial version.

So far only very few foreign code has been accepted in MySQL and all
MySQL source code is owned by MySQL AB.

> 2. What if somebody tick off another GPL project, say "OurSQL", which
> starts from the MySQL code base. Does that means "OurSQL" will be a
> totally GPL-licensed project, and can declared "independence" from
> MySQL AB?

That would be a code fork. This happened with other Open Source
projects already. Sometimes the fork gets lost soon, sometimes the fork
survives and the original gets lost, sometimes both survive. Nobody
can tell beforehand :-)


XL
--
Axel Schwenke, Senior Software Developer, MySQL AB

Online User Manual: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/
MySQL User Forums: http://forums.mysql.com/

Ben K wrote:
> I am new to the MySQL community. But after reading MySQL's dual license
> policy, I have the following hypothetical questions.
>
> 1. if there is a fix to a bug or a major feature is contributed to
> MySQL's "GPL-version" of the code, in theory, that enhancement should
> be protected under GPL. So, how can MySQL AB merge that enhancement
> into its commercial package, and keep the same release contents for
> both of its GPL and commercial packages?
>

When you submit a patch, you need to agree to the Contributor License Agreement.
http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/Contributing
http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/MySQL_Co...ense_Agreement
If you don't, your patch is simply not accepted.
The agreement gives MySQL AB the ownership of the contributed code, and thus they use it in their double license.

> 2. What if somebody tick off another GPL project, say "OurSQL", which
> starts from the MySQL code base. Does that means "OurSQL" will be a
> totally GPL-licensed project, and can declared "independence" from
> MySQL AB?

Nobody can prevent that. It's part of the GPL way of doing things. If you feel that you need to fork and launch your own
DBMS based on MySQL code, you can do it.

ciao
gmax

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