Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Licensing
Although MySQL can be used forfree and is open source, the company that develops
MySQL — currently Oracle — holds the copyright to the source code. The company offers
a dual-licensing program for its software: one allows cost-free use through theGPL under
certain common circumstances, and the other is a commercial license requiring the pay-
ment of a fee. They're both the same software, but each has a different license and different
privileges. The
website for the Free Software Foundation, which created the GPL
,
has de-
tails on the license.
Oracle allows you to use the software under the GPL if you use it without redistributing it,
or if you redistribute it only with software that is licensed under the GPL. You can even use
the GPL if you redistribute MySQL with software that you developed, as long as you dis-
tribute your software under the GPL as well. This is how MariaDB was created and why it
is a legal fork of MySQL.
However, if you have developed an application that requires MySQL for its functionality
and you want to sell your software with MySQL under a non-free license, you must pur-
chase a commercial license from Oracle. There are other scenarios in which a commercial
license may be required. For details on when you must purchase a license, see the
MySQL
Besides holding the software copyright, Oracle also holds the MySQL trademark. As a res-
ult, you cannot distribute software that includes MySQL in its name. None of this is im-
portant to learning how to use MySQL, but it's good for you to be aware of these things for
when you become an advanced MySQL developer.
