On Tue, 2010-05-18 at 07:53 +0100, Dave Page wrote:
> > For example, pg_batch is clearly marked "BSD licence", yet the docs and
> > many of the files are marked "Copyright (c) 2010, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND
> > TELEPHONE CORPORATION".
>
> Don't mix up copyright and licence. They are not the same thing at all.
I didn't mix those things up, I just used them in the same sentence.
They are two aspects of "ownership" and appear to offer conflicting
messages, which is a concern to some users.
> > pg_lesslog does contain a BSD-looking licence in the COPYRIGHT file, but
> > is also marked with copyrights.
> >
> > My understanding is that we had a policy of copyright novation to the
> > PGDG. Is that not followed up for pgfoundry projects? I think we should
> > move to a policy of explicit licencing.
>
> No - pgFoundry projects are licenced and copyright-attributed as their
> authors see fit (as long as it's an open source licence of course).
Yes, are they open source licences?
> > In the absence of a licence file, when a project is marked "BSD licence"
> > on pgfoundry I think it is safe to presume that the licence for those
> > files is the same as PostgreSQL's licence.
>
> The PostgreSQL Licence is not the same as any of the BSD variants, so
> that is not a safe presumption to make.
If, as you say, the licence is unclear then whether-or-not it is an open
source licence must also be unclear.
The copyright holders can change the licence in future as they see fit,
as we've witnessed on other formerly open source projects.
Since the licence is unclear now and the future is subject to change, I
think its safe to say that those projects are fairly unsafe for open
source users.
I'm sure the various other Telco companies out there don't want to hear
that they are using software that NTT might decide in the future to
contest as to whether it was open source or not. Nothing against NTT,
though the principle is clear and effects everything on pgfoundry.
That puts a fairly large hole in recommending that people visit
pgFoundry. That either needs to fixed or users will no longer be able to
trust PgFoundry.
-- Simon Riggs www.2ndQuadrant.com
