MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-12-22 |
| FROM | Rick Moen
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout-NYLXS] MYSQL Licensing
|
Quoting Ruben:
> In your experience, can I load up mariadb and just drop my current
> database files in it?
As the gentleman mentioned, the MariaDB Project has a migration guide
document.
Ruben, do I correctly guess that you missed the whole story about
multiple compatible and semi-compatible forks, around two and a half
years ago, after Oracle Corp. bought out MySQL AB (by buying Sun
Microsystems)? It was one of the bigger stories around. Gosh, man, you
might at least want to make a point of reading LWN.net's weekly news
every Tuesday. (Each issue becomes free of charge to non-subscribers
eight days later.)
1. Percona had and probably still has a commercially supported fork
('Percona Server') with their own enhancements of the mainline codebase.
2. MariaDB is a carefully compatible fork and superset of MySQL,
maintained by MySQL original author Monty Widenius and several ex-MySQL
AB developers. Last I heard, it was still very compatible for people
seeking to go MySQL -> MariaDB, but not the other way, and seemed likely
to deviate further over time.
3. Drizzle got its start while Sun Microsystems was still the corporate
umbrella, as a fork of the MySQL 6.0 codebase, rewritten to have much
less cruft, lighter, faster -- removing non-esstential code and
refactoring the codbase to make it modern and modular.
MariaDB gets most of the press, because of bloat-for-bloat compatibility,
but I personally find Drizzle more interesting, and I've been planning
to migrate my MySQL stuff to it. More modest code, fewer bugs, fewer
security risks, seems to me. The biggest reason few people use it
appears to be 'few people use it', which seems crazy to me.
http://www.stevemeyers.net/2013/11/a-brief-history-of-mysql.html
http://www.stevemeyers.net/2013/11/the-current-state-of-oracle-mysql.html
http://www.stevemeyers.net/2013/11/mysql-forks-percona-server.html
http://www.stevemeyers.net/2013/11/mysql-forks-mariadb.html
http://www.stevemeyers.net/2013/12/mysql-forks-other-derivatives.html
Second link of those clears up what appears to be Paul's confusion about
MySQL AB and a supposed 'loophole' in GPLv2. There wasn't a loophole.
Probable reference is to this:
MySQL AB had a policy of requiring outside code contributors to assign
their copyrights to MySQL AB, so Oracle is the only company able to
distribute MySQL on terms other than the GPL
That's not a 'loophole' in GPLv2, that's giving your copyrights away and
then acting surprised and indignant that the new owner acqquired all the
rights of ownership, including the ability to issue code instances under
any terms he/she wishes.
If you were a code contributor who prefered _not_ to give away control
and permit MySQL AB to do anything at all with your work, it's simple:
Don't sign a piece of paper giving that company your copyright title.
It'd be a conversation like this:
You: Hi, I'd like to contribute an improvement to MySQL Server under
GPLv2.
MySQL AB: Great! Please faq us a signed copy of this copyright
assignment.
You: No, I just want you to do a pull request to accept my patch.
MySQL AB: We're not willing to accept contributions unless we own them.
You: Why?
MySQL AB: {bullshit excuses and special pleading}
You: Gosh, pity you don't want my improvement under GPLv2 licence
terms. I guess I'll just put my improved fork and patchsets up
for public access, and see whose fork is more popular, my good one
or your sucky one. Maybe if enough of us coders object to your
bad attitude, we can publicise a formal, persistent fork and do
without you entirely.
I thought people knew how this works out. For one thing, Canonical,
Ltd. was so infamous for pulling the same stunt with its so-called
'Contributor License Agreement' (actually an assignment of copyright
ownership) that I thought everyone knew the score -- including the
endless series of Mark Shuttleworth special-pleading excuses where he
says Canonical is so noble and vital that it deserves and needs special
proprietary advantages. But hey, glad to explain it again.
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