Re: License Issue

Admin folks, please don't reply to this email; the discussion will
continue on hackers; thanks.

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bruce wrote:
> May, Randy wrote:
> > PostGresQL Admin,
> >
> >
> >
> > I am part of an organization that is beginning to write commercial
> > applications for various Portals (Liferay, etc.). We would like to be
> > able to deploy PostGresQL as the lightweight database for the Portal to
> > connect to. Our request for approval to our Legal Department has
> > stalled due to the following language in one of the files:
> >
> >
> >
> > File: src/backend/port/dynloader/readme.dlfcn.aix
>
> The actual file name, case-sensitive, is:
>
> File: src/backend/port/dynloader/README.dlfcn.aix
>
> > Language: "Permission is granted to freely use, copy, modify, and
> > redistribute this software, provided that no attempt is made to gain
> > profit from it..."
> >
> >
> >
> > We are not planning to modify PostGreSQL, nor charging for support
> > services.
> >
> >
> >
> > Given that we are building commercial applications, can I get
> > confirmation that we allowed to use (in-house) and deploy (to our
> > customers) PostGresQL to support our applications?
>
> Wow, I don't remember anyone seeing that before, and am sure it would
> have been an issue if they had seen it because it has been in the source
> tree since 1997/12/19. And aix.[ch] have unusual copyrights:
>
> * @(#)dlfcn.h 1.4 revision of 95/04/25 09:36:52
> * This is an unpublished work copyright (c) 1992 HELIOS Software GmbH
> * 30159 Hannover, Germany
>
> What does "unpublished work" mean? I assume the copyright in the README
> is meant to apply to the aix.[ch] files based on it being the same
> company name, and AIX.
>
> Obviously the license only applies to AIX but I wonder if we should just
> remove the files at some point and require an AIX user to reimplement
> this. I see a mention of the copyright from 1999:
>
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/1999-12/msg00747.php
>
> and another in 2007:
>
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2007-03/msg01450.php
>
> but no one seems to have noticed the README text.
>
> I think this got missed because it starts out like a BSD license, then
> has the "no profit" clause added:
>
> Permission is granted to freely use, copy, modify, and redistribute
> this software, provided that no attempt is made to gain profit from it,
> the author is not construed to be liable for any results of using the
> software, alterations are clearly marked as such, and this notice is
> not modified.
>
> Can someone contat the author company? I think this is them:
>
> http://www.helios.de/
>
> HELIOS Software GmbH
> Steinriede 3
> D-30827 Garbsen, Germany
> Phone: +49 5131 709320
>
> --
> Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> http://momjian.us
> EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com
>
> + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +