When will the source be available?
As the Feb 14 press
release stated, the source code will be available
before the end of Q2 2000 (June 30). However, we
hope to make it available sooner. We ask your
indulgence: the build procedures assume that the
product is built only in our lab and these
procedures are not easily adapted. When we do
open source the code, it will be in a format that
is understandable and usable by both our
developers and the Open Source community.
What platforms will be available?
All InterBase 6.0
platforms will be available. The first three will
be Linux, Windows and Solaris. These platforms
will be followed by other current InterBase
platforms e.g. HP-UX, Cobalt, SCO, Novell, AIX
etc as time and resources permit. InterBase is
likely to become available on other platforms due
to the porting efforts of the open source
community e.g. FreeBSD.
Will xxxx platform be open-sourced?
InterBase is a cross
platform database. InterBase is currently
developed on Linux, Windows and Solaris and is
then ported to other operating systems. InterBase
is a single code base. The same InterBase code
runs on all the operating systems we run on, with
"ifdefs" for platform specifics. If
there is a particular platform that you think
InterBase should be available on, please
let us
know. If you want to port InterBase to a platform
that we do not currently run on, please let us
know also.
Will InterClient be open-sourced?
The InterClient /
InterServer JDBC Driver for InterBase will be
available as Open Source, just like the database
engine code. That code will be maintained as a
separate project.
Will IBConsole be open-sourced?
IBConsole, the
Windows GUI tool for InterBase 6.0 will also be
available as an open source project.
Will IBX (InterBase eXpress) be open-sourced?
The InterBase
specific direct access components for both Delphi
and C++Builder will be available for InterBase 6.0
as yet another open source project.
Will the replication engine be open-sourced?
Synectics developed
the InterBase replication system. They own the
rights to their code. For that reason, we have no
plan to open source the replication engine at
this time. However the replication engine will be
available separately as proprietary commercial
software.
Will the odbc driver be open-sourced?
Merant supplies the
InterBase ODBC driver under commercial license
and deployment terms, so we can not open source
their software. However, it will available to our
users. Anyone interested in working on an open
source project for an InterBase ODBC or OLEdb /
ADO drivers for InterBase, please
contact us.
Which license will be used to release the source?
Interbase plans to
make its source code available under an Interbase
variant of the Mozilla Public License (MPL 1.1),
as was stated in the February 14th press release.
The Mozilla Public License
contains a rigorous definition of when and how
derived works fall under the MPL provisions
("Covered Code"). Modifications of
original source or new source incorporating
extracts of the original source must be licensed
under MPL. Their source must be made freely and
publicly available. However the Mozilla Public
License does explicitly permit MPL'd code to be
combined with separate proprietary code to create
a proprietary program ("Larger Work").
Such a program can be licensed for a fee and its
proprietary source code need not be made public,
so long as the proprietary code is separate and
interfaces with the open source code using a
defined API. The separation between Open Source
and proprietary code is made at the source file
boundaries, a given source file is either under
MPL, or under a different license.
Why is the above important?
Application
vendors using InterBase must be allowed to resell
their applications without having to Open Source
their own application code. The Gnu Public
License (GPL) would require them to do this.
Interbase has a loyal and growing VAR (Value
Added Reseller) community that ships InterBase
with their application code. We believe that this
community should not be required to open source
its application code.
Where can I learn more about the Mozilla Public License?
The www.mozilla.org and
www.opensource.org
sites are a good place to start
Why not GPL and/or LGPL?
The GNU General
Public License is designed to prevent open source
software from being used to create proprietary
derivatives. Its "copyleft" provisions
require:
- That programs licensed under GPL must be distributed without a license fee
- That the source code be made available, and
- That derivative works licensed under GPL must also be licensed under GPL.
In a nutshell If you
use our code with your code, all the code is Open
Source.
The
GNU Library Public License (LGPL) attempts to
address the case of Open Source libraries
designed for use by other programs. A program
that calls routines in a LPGL library is not
considered a derivative work for licensing
purposes. Works that include code from a LGPL
work are required to be licensed under LGPL, with
some ill-defined exceptions. Simply put LGPL
fixes some issues caused by GPL, but still
retains the GPL issue: GPL begets GPL, LGPL
begets LGPL.
We are looking
into the possibility of dual licensing some
client-side code under MPL and LGPL.
What costs are involved with me distributing InterBase 6.0?
InterBase 6.0 will be
available without charge in source code format,
and as downloadable binary versions for various
operating systems. There are no costs involved in
deploying the InterBase 6.0 software. Interbase
will provide a comprehensive range of support,
training and consulting services to assist you in
using of the product. For further information
please
contact us.
If there are any other questions
that you have, that you feel have not been
addressed by this Q&A, please
let us know. We will respond.
