On Sat, Oct 11, 2003 at 02:15:32PM -0400, Roberto Sanchez wrote: > Proprietary app --> <connects to> --> database which complies with > SQL standard The problem is that it more likely goes Proprietary app + database library --> <connects to> --> database There is no such thing as an SQL standard protocol. There is only the language standard. All (most ?) databases use their own client-side library, which is LGPL in the mysql case I think. Frank