Re: Open source licenses

On Thu, Apr 29, 2021 at 10:35 AM DAVID Nicolas
<nicolas(dot)david(at)hexagon(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> As I solution, I wanted to start to build Postgres from source by myself, in order to better managed what it is finally included.
> So I wanted to compile on Windows with Visual Studio.
>
> However, in the page https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/install-windows.html, I can see:
> " It is recommended that most users download the binary distribution for Windows, available as a graphical installer package from the PostgreSQL website. Building from source is only intended for people developing PostgreSQL or extensions. "
>
> Why this recommendation ? Is there any "risk" by building from source ?

The recommendation is purely one of convenience. Building PostgreSQL
on Windows is not at all as straightforward as it is on Unix,
particularly when it comes to managing the different dependencies (if
you want/need them). And as you need to redo the build when either
postgres or the dependencies have important updates, it can lead to a
lot of more work there.

But there is no "risk" other than that.

The upcoming version of the docs (now on
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/install-binaries.html) will make
it more clear that we also recommend using packages on for example
Linux as well, when they are available. So the recommendation is
generic, not Windows-specific.

--
Magnus Hagander
Me: https://www.hagander.net/
Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/