MySQL Tutorial

The company MySQL AB, run by MySQL's developers and founders, owns the MySQL code and documentation.

Most parts of the MySQL source code are available under the GNU General Public License. What this means in practice is that you can freely use, copy, distribute, and modify the source code for MySQL. If you copy or distribute the code (or modify and then copy and distribute the code), you must do so again under the GPL. If you distribute binaries, you must also include the source code.

You can read the full text of the GNU GPL in your MySQL distribution, online in the MySQL manual, or online at the Free Software Foundation:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

More information on the GPL is provided at

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html

If this does not suit your purposes ”if, for example, you want to modify MySQL and sell the modified binary without access to the source code ”you must purchase a commercial license from MySQL AB. You can also choose to purchase a commercial license from MySQL AB if you want to support the development of MySQL.

One important note is that the MySQL documentation is not available under the GPL, but it can be printed for personal use.