Quote:
can I bundle the same APIs with my application
Yes you can. The C API is included with the source distribution of the MySQL server.
About licensing read for instance:
http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/newsl…0000000220.html. The GNU public license is not “without any restrictions”. But no restriction that prevents you to use it!
Quote:
what options do I have to connect to the database from my application code.
The API sends hostname, username, password, port (and database(s) if you choose). That is what you need to connect. The rest is server configuration. However if you need tunnelling you will need specific code for that.
The complet set of connectors and the MySQL source can be found here: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/