FreeTDS Development Group

[Steve Langasek <vorlon AT netexpress.net>]

On Wed, Jan 16, 2002 at 08:07:13PM +0100, Pim Zandbergen wrote:

> Has anyone noticed that OpenLink are distributing a FreeTDS database
> agent in their multitier ODBC suite?

> This FreeTDS database agent sits in between an OpenLink ODBC client
> and an MS SQL Server. Connecting to the database agent goes through
> their (licensed) broker.

> Funny to see a piece of free software connecting two licensed products
> togeher ...

> I suppose FreeTDS is GPL'd ? Could we ask OpenLink for the source of
> their database agent?

You are certain that they're using the FreeTDS codebase for this?  There 
are other libraries that implement TDS, some of them using the same APIs 
that FreeTDS provides.

FreeTDS is released under the LGPL.  This is similar to the GPL, with 
the exception that they don't need to release the source code to 
anything that talks to FreeTDS through published library interfaces.  
There are certain requirements spelled out in section 6 of the LGPL that 
would apply, and if they've made any modifications to the FreeTDS
libraries, they must make those modifications available freely.  Exactly 
what their obligations are depend on how they're using FreeTDS in their 
application; but the most straightforward requirement is that if 
they're using FreeTDS in their database agent, you should be able to 
find a copy of the LGPL license and a copyright statement among the 
files that they're distributing.

Cheers,
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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