Martin Koegler <mkoegler@auto.tuwien.ac.at> writes:
The newer MySQL client libraries are GPL (with the FLOSS exception),
older versions were LGPL.
At http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html
MySQL has put a descrption of their network protocol, where they
force programs using this protocol to be GPL:
The MySQL Protocol is proprietary.
The MySQL Protocol is part of the MySQL Database Management System.
As such, it falls under the provisions of the GNU Public License (GPL).
A copy of the GNU Public License is available on MySQL's web site, and
in the product download.
Because this is a GPL protocol, any product which uses it to connect
to a MySQL server, or to emulate a MySQL server, or to interpose
between any client and server which uses the protocol, or for any
similar purpose, is also bound by the GPL. Therefore if you use this
description to write a program, you must release your program as
GPL. Contact MySQL AB if you need clarification of these terms or if
you need to ask about alternative arrangements.
What are those people smoking? Writing a program that implements a
protocol does not in any way I've ever heard of create anything
derived from the protocol specification. An MPEG decoder is not a
derivative of the MPEG specification (patents issues are unrelated),
and this is no different in principle. Remember that it is perfectly
legal to reverse engineer a protocol, and then proceed to write your
own programs using it. Surely, there can't be more restrictions when
the specification is publicly available.