The Ultimate Guide to High Availability with MariaDB
This is a read-only copy of the MariaDB Knowledgebase generated on 2024-11-16. For the latest, interactive version please visit https://mariadb.com/kb/.

Licencing question

Hi! I am a first time newbie here so excuse me asking this question but...

I am developing and supporting an VB6 application that uses ODBC connecting to mySQL database. The database is essential for the application, the app can not even start without a working db connection. The db can reside in local host or in a separate server in local area network or in internet.

We are considering to abandon mySQL and replace it with something that mySQL used to be. As our app is commercially distributed and upgraded, we are not willing to give out the source code. Currently we have bought expensive commercial licences for mySQL from Oracle.

My questions: What are our options to replace mySQL with MariaDB?

- what kind of licence policy would apply?

- does MariaDB have commercial licencing option?

- how does using ODBC-connection affect the licensing policy?

Seppo RK

Answer Answered by colin charles in this comment.

This questions is already answered in http://kb.askmonty.org/en/licensing-faq

To make it short:

  • The GPL of the MySQL ODBC connecter never affects the application. This is because your the ODBC connector is a standardizes system plugin which your application never uses directly as it's loaded on demand by the ODBC manager and can easily be replaced with other connectors.
  • If you are not distributing the MySQL/MariaDB server with your application then your are not bound by the GPL in the server.
  • If your app works with more than one database (which should be trivial if you are using ODBC), then you can freely distribute your application also with the MySQL server, as the server is then an optional but not required component.
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