[Mimedefang] defang DB

[Mark Suter]

ms => Mark Suter <suter at humbug.org.au>
du => Ernst Du Plooy <ernst at tfs.ac.za>

du> Just a word of warning. Check out MySQL licensing before using.

ms> MySQL is free software (in the best sense) available under the GNU
ms> Public Licence.  What warning are you making?
ms>
ms>     http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html

du> Sorry, I should have explained more.  As I understand MySQL is 100%
du> GPL, but only if your software is 100% GPL.

This is entirely consistent with the purpose of the GPL - forcing people
to distribute their software under the GPL.

du> A while back I helped a company with a commercial product that used
du> a database backend.  They had to purchase MySQL licenses for all
du> their clients.

In cases where the GPL is unacceptable, MySQL AB offers a commercial
licence.  This is possible only because they own the copyrights to all
contributed code (authors are required to sign agreements allowing
this).  Here's the simple GNU GPL FAQ entry:

    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#HeardOtherLicense

du> I recon this is one of the reasons why David use PostgreSQL for
du> CanIT (although I'm just guessing here).

Possibly - this is a very complex issue.  Read the following and then
talk to a real lawyer (so that your doubt can be increased ;)

    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem
    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation

Here's a technical comparison of the MySQL and PostgreSQL - this is
*not* marketing but the results of reproducible automated testing.

    http://www.mysql.com/information/crash-me.php?res_id=63&brief=1

Yours sincerely,

-- Mark John Suter  | I know that you  believe  you understand
suter at humbug.org.au | what you think I said, but I am not sure
gpg key id 2C71D63D | you realise that what you  heard  is not
mobile 0411 262 316 | what I meant.        Robert J. McCloskey