lgpl .net connector
Will there be an lgpl .net connector released in the future.
I understand that most mysql downloads are for windows machines which would indicate a large market for mariadb. An lgpl .net connector would be a big incentive for a lot of people to move on MariaDB i think.
My company currently use SQL Server but are looking at other options. An lgpl licence for mariadb would be the difference between us moving to mariadb rather than mysql or the liberally licenced postgresql.
Answer Answered by Michael Widenius in this comment.
Currently there are no plans to do an lgpl .net connector.
The main reason is that as the .net connector is not directly linked into your application, but rather through a net connector manager, the GPL in the .net connector will not affect your application.
If the GPL .net library would affect your application, it should also affect the net connector manger. As the manager can never be used under GPL it would mean that no one could ever use the .net library. The only way the .net connector could exist and be used is if there is an implicit agreement that the GPL code in the connector will not affect any other code than the connector itself.
In other words, from a licensing point of view, there is no difference if the .net connector or .lgpl or .gpl.
Note that all the other LGPL connectors that have been developed for MySQL/MariaDB have been sponsored by one or a few companies. If you really would like to see a lgpl .net client, you should contact a provider like SkySQL to make arrangements to create one that would be freely available for all.
