Re: LGPL - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Josh,

> Both of these would be fine as add-ins to be distributed *separately*
through
> pgFoundry or even the mirrors if they prove popular.
> Bundling them in unified distribution binaries with PostgreSQL would
be a
> significant problem.
>
> You see this in other projects all the time:  "Requriements:
> ______, which is GPL and can be downloaded from __________ ."
>  We've managed so far to avoid needing external libraries
> which are not standard on most POSIX platforms, and it would
> be nice to keep it that way instead of doing the "component
> easter egg hunt" (which users of Linux multimedia apps are
> familiar with).
>
> This means that you're unlikely to be able to use glib unless
> it becomes standard on POSIX platforms, and someone makes a
> Windows port.  Out of curiosity, what did you want to use it *for*?

Ohh,. Just felt like a cleaner interface than ICU,....

> As for a URI type, I don't see the problem with doing that as
> a PostgreSQL add-in downloadable from PGFoundry.  Given the
> variety of URI implementations, I'm not sure we'd want a
> single URI type as standard anyway.

That I don't know,.... Yet... However what I've come up with so far, has
proven quite useful.

Remember the all famous 'email' type?
This has the same functionality, if not better....

create table email_addresses (email_address text,uri uri);
insert into email_addresses (email_address) VALUES
('john@geeknet.com.au');
update email_addresses set uri = 'mailto:'||email_address::text; <--
could be a rule on insert!
select (uri).username,(uri).host from email_addresses ;username |      host
----------+----------------john     | geeknet.com.au
(1 row)

And here's the really funky bit:

select email_address = 'john@GeekNET.com.au' from email_addresses ;?column?
----------f
(1 row)

select uri = 'mailto:john@GeekNET.com.au'::text::uri from
email_addresses ;?column?
----------t
(1 row)

As it should, since email sent to the two email addresses would end up
in the same mailbox....
The same applies to other URI formats of course. It appears this uri
library is fully spec compliant.

> According to the FSF's junior licensing maven, building in a
> GPL data type or other plug-in would make *your instance* of
> PostgreSQL GPL, but so does PL/R and PostGIS, so that's
> nothing new.  It just needs to be distributed separately.
>
> FYI, the reason the GPL "linking" issue is vague is that it
> depends on local copyright law, which varies from country to
> country and in the US from state to state.  This is
> deliberate by the FSF because an agreement which depends on
> local copyright law is stronger in court than one which sets its own
> explicit terms.   If anyone has nuts-and-bolts questions
> about GPL/LGPL
> issues, I have some friends at the FSF and can get answers
> from "the horse's mouth."
>

Thanks for the explanation....

> --
> Josh Berkus
> Aglio Database Solutions
> San Francisco
>
>

... John