Joshua D. Drake wrote:
>
> ...
> Why would you had not been able to do that with a GPL driver?
I missed the start of this - is ODBC switching to a GPL license?
As much as I personally like the philosophy of GPL, I'd have to
say that 'libraries' (and I view ODBC as a library) might be
better served with LGPL or some other open-source license.
In fact, our own use of PostgreSQL might be jeopardized through
such a switch (fortunately, our use of ODBC is constrained, so
we may be able to just nuke our use of ODBC).
Why? Because we have specialized, complex hardware (telescopes
and instruments) purchased with software from vendors using
non-GPL compatible licenses. We, as a non-profit organization,
cannot afford the extra $$$ it would take to convince those
vendors to provide us the same software under a GPL and there
is *no other* source of such software that we can afford,
either (the "other source" is to write it ourselves or hire
someone to do so). The GPL does not permit us to link this vendor
code in with code that also links in GPL-based libraries.
Please think very carefully about using GPL with code that
has to be linked into other software.
--
Steve Wampler -- swampler@noao.edu
The gods that smiled on your birth are now laughing out loud.