Re: contrib/postgis spatial extensions

> Tom Lane writes:
>
> > I'm for adding this to contrib, but is there any chance of getting it
> > released under our BSD-style license, not GPL? If it's GPL then it
> > will never be a candidate to move out of contrib and into the main tree,
> > which seems like something we'd like to do with it eventually. The GPL
> > license forbids us from merging GPL'd code into BSD-licensed code,
> > so the best we can do with GPL'd code is keep it at arm's length in
> > the contrib area.
>
> I think I have a problem with this approach. If you think these types are
> the way to go for PostgreSQL then they should be available under a
> BSD-style license or we should not support them by shipping them in the
> distribution. You are thereby effectively declaring the development on
> the existing geometry types obsolete in favour of something not as free as
> we like.
>
> In particular, what kind of situation, legal and otherwise, are you
> creating for someone who may in the future want to implement a free
> version of these types?
>
> This PostGIS project seems big enough that they can handle their own
> releases. I have a general problem with everything that comes our way
> being stuffed in contrib (imagine Perl shipping the whole CPAN in its
> tarball), but half a meg seems to be too much.

OK, patch on hold.

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