Thread: Postgres Licensing
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 />
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
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
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 />