No GPLv3 for MySQL … Yet

Published: Jan 4, 2007
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
1 minute read
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Kaj Arno, MySQL vice president of community relations, quietly revealed on his blog before Christmas that MySQL has changed its license to “GPL2 Only.”

This does not mean, however, that MySQL, the well-known open-source DBMS vendor, is sticking to the GPLv2 forever.

Unlike the Linux core developers, who have little if any interest in switching to the GPLv3, MySQL has been involved with creating the GPLv3 since its start.

/zimages/6/28571.gifThe FSF clarifies “inaccurate” information about GPLv3.Click hereto read more.

Arno wrote, “MySQL has been part of the GPLv3 Committee B advising FSF [the Free Software Foundation] since the GPLv3 draft was announced in January 2006. For GPLv3, we have seen fantastic improvements and hope for GPLv3 to spread.”

So why is MySQL not supporting the use of GPLv3 as wholeheartedly as the Samba Team, which announced in early December that it was committed to moving Sambas code to GPLv3 as soon as it was out?

/zimages/6/28571.gifRead the full story on Linux-Watch: No GPLv3 for MySQL… Yet

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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

I'm editor-at-large for Ziff Davis Enterprise. That's a fancy title that means I write about whatever topic strikes my fancy or needs written about across the Ziff Davis Enterprise family of publications. You'll find most of my stories in Linux-Watch, DesktopLinux and eWEEK. Prior to becoming a technology journalist, I worked at NASA and the Department of Defense on numerous major technological projects.

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