Re: Sun buys out MySQL

Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> Lothar Kimmeringer wrote:
>> Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>
>>> Lothar Kimmeringer wrote:
>>>> Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> What really constitutes "linking" in Java is not very well defined,
>>>>> but Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver") can definitely be argued
>>>>> to be linking.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>> If the Java byte code can work with any database providing
>>> a JDBC version X compliant JDBC driver, then it should not be
>>> considered linking.
>>
>> I think, these two statements are the opposite of each other
>> but it shows the different views.
> 
> No.
> 
> Code with a hardcoded Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver") will
> only work with MySQL.
> 
> It is a thin line, but I think the line is there.

There's also the issue of whether the code sends MySQL-specific commands 
to the database server, such as to set session variables.  Then you 
could argue that the application is tied to MySQL, whether or not the 
driver class name is hard-coded or not.

David Harper
Cambridge, England