Greg Stark <gsstark(at)mit(dot)edu> wrote:
> Kevin Grittner<Kevin(dot)Grittner(at)wicourts(dot)gov> wrote:
>> # Copyright (c) 2006 SUSE Linux Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany.
>> # All rights reserved.
>>
>> and that I would be violating that copyright by copying it to
>> PostgreSQL. Am I wrong?
>
> The above is just a statement of fact. It doesn't change the legal
> status (well not much). What you need to know is what license SUSE
> has granted. I would expect it to be either GPL or BSD but I don't
> really know SUSE.
>
> If it's BSD or anything more liberal it's fine. If it was GPL it
> would be legally fine but it's against our policy because we want to
> keep the whole package covered by BSD restrictions at most.
I tracked down the license text. It includes these sections, which
leave me disinclined to copy the init script to the PostgreSQL contrib
directory:
The Software is a collective work of Novell.
You must acquire a license for each
installation of the Software and for each
additional copy (or partial copy) of the
Software stored or loaded in memory or virtual
memory beyond the initial copy necessary for
execution of the Software installed on the
hardware.
. . .
The Software is protected by the copyright laws and treaties of the
United States ("U.S.") and other countries and is subject to the terms
of this Agreement. The Software is licensed to You, not sold.
. . .
Novell reserves all rights not expressly granted to You. You may not:
(1) reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software except
and only to the extent it is expressly permitted by applicable law or
the license terms accompanying a component of the Software; or
(2) transfer the Software or Your license rights under this Agreement,
in whole or in part.
-Kevin