databases [was: Re: Ruby Active Record]

[Lynn Fredricks]

> > Id pass the buck to whomever writes the checks ;-)
> 
> In that case, you'd be misunderstanding the situation. 
> Scenario: you write a spiffy app that goes out to hundreds of 
> non-profit clients, and you charge them a nominal fee for it 
> and for support. If it relies on MySQL for a backend server, 
> are you responsible for getting a commercial license or are 
> the clients who run and maintain it? And given that the 
> clients are non-profits who may be entitled to a free 
> commercial license, would it not be counterintuitive for the 
> developer to pay for a commercial license rather than telling 
> the clients to get their own?

IANAL (I am not a lawyer warning) - its been a few weeks (I wrote something
about their licensing in my blog a few weeks ago) but I suspect that unless
you are really giving it away for free, its on you, because you are
collecting a nominal fee for it and for support. I don't think it matters
how much that wee fee is.

Don't take my word on it though. I wouldn't ship anything like that without
having an informed opinion. mySQL AB used to be pretty rabid about
enforcement.

Best regards,

Lynn Fredricks
President
Paradigma Software, Inc

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