Re: Re: [HACKERS] proposed improvements to PostgreSQL license

On Mon, 3 Jul 2000, Peter Eisentraut wrote:

> > and ensuring that the code stays open source in perpetuity.
> No, that's what the GPL does.

This is only an end user's reply but here goes...

And I feel alot more comfortable with the GPL as an end user. I *trust*
Richard Stallman...alot more than any johnny-come-lately. Peter's point
about the longevity of the Bersekeley licence is well taken.

> To my knowledge, the BSD license has been used in one form or another for
> at least 20 years and neither has any contributor ever been sued for
> liability, nor was there any court case that concluded that the BSD
> license is worth anything at all, nor has the developer or commercial
> acceptance of any product ever been affected by this "untight" license.
>
> > [To be integrated with the software in such a way that this license
> > must be seen before downloading can occur]
>
> That's funny...

Actually, that's frightening...more than a bit reminiscent of the old Bill.
I've invested *alot* of time in writing code that wraps around Pg.
Because of its OSS licence and Berkeley lineage.

Perhaps the end user should also have to enter a key to do the build.
And subsequently be pestered to register online for 'free updates'...
Maybe code could be worked in to reach out on the network to see if any
unauthorized binaries are in use.

> > The foregoing shall be governed by and construed under the laws of
> > the State of Virginia.
>
> The recurring theme throughout this email was that Great Bridge has
> apparently not appreciated that PostgreSQL land extends beyond the borders
> of the U.S. of A. Maybe your 32 focus groups in major U.S. cities wanted
> the license changed like this, but I'll bet lunch that 32 out of 32 focus
> groups in major European cities will look with extreme suspicion at
> anything with "laws of the State of XXX" attached to it.

> Until they realize that the laws of Virginia don't apply to them. Or to
> Canada, where hub.org is located these days.

Ah, The Old Dominion. In NYC we have some of the toughest gun laws in
the US. But they are largely ineffective (aside from blocking honest
citizens access to sporting firearms). You see all sorts of guns flow in
illegally from states that don't enforce their laws. Like Virginia.
The end result is that hospital ERs continue to treat gunshot wounds.

Rewriting the GPL or BSD licence sounds like reinventing the wheel...
Unless of course there is another agenda.

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