Not linking but rather using - auto download OK?

[John Hancock]

I hope that I arrived at the right mailing list. If not, please accept
my apology and I would appreciate it if you could direct me to the
correct mailing list (or forum):

I am an individual programmer, developing a cool software application
with the hope to make a living selling it over the internet.

The problem is that this application relies on using separate GPL-ed
software (e.g. MySQL), running in the background.

I know that legally (according to the terms of the GPL) I cannot link
to GPL software without having to open my own source code as well (my
trade secret), so I thought of a possibly legal alternative:

Instead of bundling that GPL software with my application, my
application's installer will  automatically download that GPL software
from the internet and install it for the end-user.

Technically speaking, it is the end user who downloads and installs
that GPL software. That is, I didn't provide that GPL software but
rather helped the user get it.

The question now is whether this is considered so legally as well?

Also, I am curious to know whether there are already commercial
applications that do just that. For example, a commercial application
that relies on MySQL but does not modify or  statically link to it in
any way, just using it to store information in a database.


Thank you,
John