Re: [reSIProcate] [reTurn-devel] license for Berkley DB used by repro project.

[Scott Godin <sgodin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This posting landed on the wrong mailing list, so I've CC'd a more appropriate one.

I am not a licensing expert, but the following is my interpretation of the Berkely DB licensing:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepycat_license

The following statement from the Sleepycat license wiki page, seems pretty clear:  

The license is a strong form of copyleft because it mandates that redistributions in any form not only include the source code of Berkeley DB, but also "any accompanying software that uses the DB software". It is possible to circumvent this strict licensing policy through the purchase of a commercial software license from Oracle Corporation consisting of terms and conditions which are negotiated at the time of sale. This is an example of dual licensing.

my opinions inline....

Scott

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 9:09 AM, Ankit Jalota <ankit.jalota@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Dear All,

 

I have some concers about the license of "Berkley DB",

From the snippet below from Wikkipedia page

 

"Oracle Corporation makes versions 2.0 and higher of Berkeley DB available under a dual license.^[13] This license is a 2-clause BSD license with an additional copyleft clause similar to the GNU GPL version 2's Section 3, requiring source code of an application using Berkeley DB to be made available for a nominal fee.

Thus, the license depends on how a particular application that uses Berkeley DB is distributed to the public. Software that is not distributed can use the Sleepycat License, as can free and open source software. Proprietary software can use Berkeley DB only under a commercial license agreement between Oracle and the application's publisher."

It looks like that Resiprocate is using a BSD like license for Berkley DB. 

My Concerns are as following if I use repro with Berkley DB:

1. If I use then, do I need to open the sorce code of my application also?.

[Scott]  I believe you need to either open source your software or purchase a commercial license from Oracle. 

2. Can I sell my Application ?

[Scott]  I believe so, as long as you do one of the above options. 

3. Is there a way to replace Berkley BD?

[Scott]  The database use in repro is abstracted out at the class level.  In fact there is also a MySQL implementation in SVN, enabled via preprocessor defines..   

Thanks in advance.

Ankit

 

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