On Fri, Jun 06, 2003 at 11:25:51AM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote: > On Fri, Jun 06, 2003 at 10:39:23AM +0200, Christian Hammers wrote: > > Attached and below you'll find the recent plans of MySQL regarding > > their licenses. I would think that this is sufficient for the > > Debian project. If not please scream loud now! :-) > [...] > > > Here is our initial plan to fix the problems that been created by the > > > change in licensing. > > > We are considering offering a blanket exception that will allow MySQL to > > > be used in combined works where the combined work is licensed under one > > > or more OSI approved licenses. > [...] > > > Can you see problems with this approach? > Yes! > What happens if OSI ever decides to yank their approval from a license, > what happens then? > I think MySQL is best advised to draft license terms that require as > little reference to certifications and proclamations of third parties as > possible. Would it be reasonable to ask them to "snapshot" the OSI license list with every release? This would ensure that the permission to link isn't retroactively revoked by a third party, while saving MySQL AB the work of coming up with their own definition of what they consider acceptable. As long as this is a list of *additional* linking permissions, and the contributors are ok with this sort of license, I don't see any reason why this couldn't work. Other than that issue, I think this would nicely address Debian's needs. I'm pleased to see MySQL AB taking this step to clarify the license of the client libraries. -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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