September 26, 2024: PostgreSQL 17 Released!

Archives Policy

Last updated: February 6, 2019. View change history.

The PostgreSQL mailing lists are archived at www.postgresql.org. This site is intended to provide an accurate representation of the activity on the lists, and as such will not be modified.

Why won't you remove my post?

There are a number of reasons why we will not remove or modify messages in the archives:

  • We want the archives to accurately represent the history of our public mailing lists.
  • Messages posted to our mailing lists are archived by other organisations outside of our control, as well as in every list subscriber's inbox. Removing a message from our archives would only be the tip of the iceberg.
  • Due to the way the archives are stored and occasionally regenerated from archived mailbox files, there is no way to permanently modify a message.
  • We have limited volunteer resources to run the project (and no non-volunteer resources) and would prefer to use those resources to produce great database management software than to rewrite history.

E-Mail Disclaimers and Licencing

Some companies or organization add footers to outgoing e-mail messages with that group's e-mail policies, such as this simple example:

This e-mail is confidential and only for use by the intended recipient.

These disclaimers are incompatible with sending messages to the PostgreSQL mailing lists. When the mailing list is the "intended recipient", that includes all of its current subscribers and the archives. These archives are public, archived, and searchable; they cannot be made confidential.

By choosing to send messages to a PostgreSQL mailing list, you are implicitly granting your permission for that message to be archived in that fashion, regardless of any e-mail disclaimer it might have. Additionally, source code submissions to mailing lists such as pgsql-hackers are considered submissions to the PostgreSQL project, falling under the project's PostgreSQL licence. Please make sure you have permission to share information with these lists before sending your message.