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 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?
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?
May be you guys are hard core OSS enthusiasts and may flame me. I request
not to and please consider my question.
Thanks a lot.
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 advanced server? By modifying
it, I guess! So that is something similar I want to do. Getting a few
dollars for some hard work is not bad for me. Plus I love to find new
things, so it would be fun as well.
I would surely include the PostgreSQL licence in the product (if I get
successful to) and sell it to a few peopl who are looking for some specific
features and are pissed off with the great MySQL.
Thanks to both DAVE and Heikki :)
-Vaibhav (*_*)
On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:58 PM, Heikki Linnakangas <
heikki.linnakangas@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
Show quoted text
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