MySQL Bugs: #60124: Update README files to include FOSS License Exception information

Bug #60124	Update README files to include FOSS License Exception information
Submitted:	14 Feb 2011 17:22	Modified:	24 Feb 2011 13:18
Reporter:	Lenz Grimmer	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: General	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	all	OS:	Any
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	documentation, licensing, readme

Description:
The removal of the EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT text file included in the source tree and distribution packages was not accompanied with an update of the README file by accident. When looking at a source distribution, it's not obvious that the FOSS license exception is still in place.

How to repeat:
Open a recent source tree or archive. Observe that EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT has been removed without any comment of its whereabouts.

Suggested fix:
Update the README as follows:

[SNIP]
This is a release of MySQL, a dual-license SQL database server. For the avoidance of doubt, this particular copy of the software is released under the version 2 of the GNU General Public License. MySQL is brought to you by Oracle.

License information can be found in the COPYING file.

MySQL FOSS License Exception
We want free and open source software applications under certain licenses to be able to use specified GPL-licensed MySQL client libraries despite the fact that not all such FOSS licenses are compatible with version 2 of the GNU General Public License. Therefore there are special exceptions to the terms and conditions of the GPLv2 as applied to these client libraries, which are identified and described in more detail in the FOSS License Exception at <http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/licensing/foss-exception.html>.

This distribution may include materials developed by third parties. For license and attribution notices for these materials, please refer to the documentation that accompanies this distribution.

[...]

[SNIP]

Verified with server version 5.5.9:

macbook-pro:5.0 openxs$ grep -il FLOSS /usr/local/mysql-5.1.50-osx10.5-x86_64/EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT 
/usr/local/mysql-5.1.50-osx10.5-x86_64/EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT
macbook-pro:5.0 openxs$ grep -il FLOSS /usr/local/mysql-5.5.9-osx10.5-x86_64/*
macbook-pro:5.0 openxs$

Fix was committed and merged into all 5.x source trees:

http://lists.mysql.com/commits/131483

Thank you for your bug report. This issue has been committed to our source repository of that product and will be incorporated into the next release.

If necessary, you can access the source repository and build the latest available version, including the bug fix. More information about accessing the source trees is available at

    http://dev.mysql.com/doc/en/installing-source.html