Thread: Postgres Licensing

Postgres Licensing

From
Vaibhav Kaushal
Date:
May be this is the wrong place to ask the question. Still, answer me if someone can or please redirect me to some place
whereit can be answered. My questions are:<br /><br />1. PostgreSQL can be distributed freely according to the license
terms.Can it be sold (for a price) without changing anything in the source?<br /><br />2. Does the license restrict me
fromadding my closed source additions to the project and then sell the product? I want to add in a few files here and
therewhich would be closed source in nature, while all the changes made to the original files will be open, and then
sellthe modified database with a dual license. Is this possible? <br /><br />May be you guys are hard core OSS
enthusiastsand may flame me. I request not to and please consider my question. <br /><br />Thanks a lot.<br /><br /> 

Re: Postgres Licensing

From
Heikki Linnakangas
Date:
On 20/09/10 09:48, Vaibhav Kaushal wrote:
> 1. PostgreSQL can be distributed freely according to the license terms. Can
> it be sold (for a price) without changing anything in the source?

Yes.

You will have a hard time finding anyone to buy it, though, because you 
can download it for free from the PostgreSQL website.

> 2. Does the license restrict me from adding my closed source additions to
> the project and then sell the product? I want to add in a few files here and
> there which would be closed source in nature, while all the changes made to
> the original files will be open, and then sell the modified database with a
> dual license. Is this possible?

In general, yes. I don't know what exactly you mean by the dual license, 
but you are free to mix proprietary code with the PostgreSQL sources, 
and sell or distribute for free the combined product with or without 
sources. The only requirement of the PostgreSQL license is that all 
copies must include the copyright notices and the license text.

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer)

--   Heikki Linnakangas  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com


Re: Postgres Licensing

From
Dave Page
Date:
On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 7:48 AM, Vaibhav Kaushal
<vaibhavkaushal123@gmail.com> wrote:
> May be this is the wrong place to ask the question. Still, answer me if
> someone can or please redirect me to some place where it can be answered. My
> questions are:
>
> 1. PostgreSQL can be distributed freely according to the license terms. Can
> it be sold (for a price) without changing anything in the source?

Yes.

> 2. Does the license restrict me from adding my closed source additions to
> the project and then sell the product? I want to add in a few files here and
> there which would be closed source in nature, while all the changes made to
> the original files will be open, and then sell the modified database with a
> dual license. Is this possible?

You should check with your own counsel of course (I am not a lawyer),
but essentially the licence allows you produce derivative
closed-source products and release them under different licences as
long as the terms of the original licence are met (which basically
means you can't sue UC Berkeley, or remove the original
licence/copyright notices).

> May be you guys are hard core OSS enthusiasts and may flame me. I request
> not to and please consider my question.

We like people building cool stuff with our code - and like the
freedom to do so that our licence allows.

-- 
Dave Page
Blog: http://pgsnake.blogspot.com
Twitter: @pgsnake

EnterpriseDB UK: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise Postgres Company


Re: Postgres Licensing

From
Vaibhav Kaushal
Date:
You seem to be working for EnterpriseDB, which is a company specializing on postgres. So how does EnterpriseDB sell the
advancedserver? By modifying it, I guess! So that is something similar I want to do. Getting a few dollars for some
hardwork is not bad for me. Plus I love to find new things, so it would be fun as well. <br /><br />I would surely
includethe PostgreSQL licence in the product (if I get successful to) and sell it to a few peopl who are looking for
somespecific features and are pissed off with the great MySQL.<br /><br />Thanks to both DAVE and Heikki :)<br /><br
/>-Vaibhav(*_*)<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:58 PM, Heikki Linnakangas
<spandir="ltr"><<a
href="mailto:heikki.linnakangas@enterprisedb.com">heikki.linnakangas@enterprisedb.com</a>></span>wrote:<br
/><blockquoteclass="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im">On 20/09/10 09:48, Vaibhav Kaushal wrote:<br /><blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> 1. PostgreSQL can be
distributedfreely according to the license terms. Can<br /> it be sold (for a price) without changing anything in the
source?<br/></blockquote><br /></div> Yes.<br /><br /> You will have a hard time finding anyone to buy it, though,
becauseyou can download it for free from the PostgreSQL website.<div class="im"><br /><br /><blockquote
class="gmail_quote"style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> 2.
Doesthe license restrict me from adding my closed source additions to<br /> the project and then sell the product? I
wantto add in a few files here and<br /> there which would be closed source in nature, while all the changes made to<br
/>the original files will be open, and then sell the modified database with a<br /> dual license. Is this possible?<br
/></blockquote><br/></div> In general, yes. I don't know what exactly you mean by the dual license, but you are free to
mixproprietary code with the PostgreSQL sources, and sell or distribute for free the combined product with or without
sources.The only requirement of the PostgreSQL license is that all copies must include the copyright notices and the
licensetext.<br /><br /> (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer)<br /><font color="#888888"><br /> -- <br />  Heikki
Linnakangas<br/>  EnterpriseDB   <a href="http://www.enterprisedb.com"
target="_blank">http://www.enterprisedb.com</a><br/></font></blockquote></div><br />