Re: MySQL & ActiveRecord Licenses

Paul E. G. Lynch
2011-03-21T20:05:19Z

GPL requires that if you link with the library, you have to have a GPL-
compatible license so that the result is available under GPL.  See:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#LinkingWithGPL

So, if ActiveRecord is linking with the MySQL libraries, then my
understanding is that it should be GPL (or something compatible).
Just to clarify, I do not wish ActiveRecord to be GPL, and I do not
even like GPL.  I am just trying to understand how they have avoided
that license issue, because it has implications for the Ruby on Rails
web application I am working on (for which we are working on a
license).

    --Paul

On Mar 21, 3:18 pm, Bryan Crossland
<bacrossl...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 1:48 PM, Paul E. G. Lynch
<plynch...-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>wrote:
>
> > MySQL''s license is GPL.  ActiveRecord, which (I presume) uses
MySQL''s
> > client libraries, is under the MIT license.  How does ActiveRecord
> > avoid being GPL?
>
> I''m no attorney but I believe the answer is that ActiveRecord is
not
> modifying MySQL but is a separate framework for accessing it as well as a
> number of other databases. You still need a copy of MySQL if you want to
use
> the part that can access it. The FAQ for GPL/GNU explains more in the
> section on "Using programs released under the GNU licenses when
writing
> other programs".
>
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
>
> B.