MySQL to make use of Microsoft code

Code that Microsoft made available under a public license earlier this year will be used in the next production release of open-source database MySQL.

The Microsoft source code will be used in version 4.1 of MySQL, which is due for final release in two weeks.

Microsoft made the code for its Windows Installer XML tool set available under an open-source licence in April. The so-called WiX tool set is used by companies that develop applications for the Windows environment to build Windows installation packages.

David Axmark, co-founder of MySQL, said Monday that the code has been used by MySQL developers to generate binary installation files for the Windows operating system. The code is not used for the MySQL database itself, but for the administration tool that connects to the database.

As Microsoft is known for zealously protecting the source code of its applications, some open-source developers were suspicious when they heard that it was releasing the source code of WiX. But Axmark said MySQL had little hesitation about using it.

"If Microsoft releases something under public license, we will use it," he said.

However, he said the code is only part of the build process, rather than key application functionality.

"It's not that useful," Axmark said. "We may need to modify the code slightly so it has some value. But it doesn't have as much value as something you would put into an application."

Simon Riggs, a developer of PostgreSQL, an alternative open-source database, said future versions of PostgreSQL will not include the Microsoft source code, as the database already has a Microsoft installer that works fine.

Riggs pointed out that the WiX tool set is already programmable, so there is little need to customize it.

"Microsoft open-sourcing this is like taking the top off a jar that is already open," Riggs said. "We're not interested in this bit of their source code."

A Microsoft representative said Monday that the software giant is committed to providing tools to aid software development. "WiX is just one example of our engagement with the open-source community, and it helps software developers as they build software that runs on Windows," the representative said.

Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[jswap]

I like to use code that is not that useful

"It's not that useful," Axmark said. "We may need to modify the code slightly so it has some value. But it doesn't have as much value as something you would put into an application."
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Gotta love a guy who uses someone's open source code, then trashes it for not being useful enough. WHY ARE YOU USING IT THEN? Someone put a gun to your head?

[katamari]

Agreed.

Exactly. This is the exact sort-of thing we see in the open-source community time and time again -- judgement being passed over commercial vendors' code, even if it's released in the public domain.

What ESR's Cathedral/Bazaar article never bothered to mention was social criticism between parties.....

[bit-looter]

disagree

I don't know if you know what an installer is, compared to the product code it self, an installer is nothing. I am sure mysql isn't using it because they can't create their's.