On Tue, Apr 11, 2006 at 12:02:33PM +0100, Dave Page wrote:
> > The only proper fix for this licensing issue IMHO is to fix
> > GPL, not to kludge in some GPL compliant library. The issue
> > at hand obviously is licensing related, the software is not
> > the problem. And the cause of the licensing problem is
> > apparently a restriction in GPL. Fix that, problem solved.
>
> I was having similar thoughts but restrained from airing them for fear
> of starting a flamewar. I do find it somewhat ironic that some people
> seem to be being forced into using GNU software to resolve these issues
> that almost scream 'vendor lockin' and similar phrases normally aimed at
> Microsoft et al. by GNU/FSF proponents!
The GNU people write a an SSL library and you claim that people are
being forced to use it. Perhaps you forgot about the Mozilla NSS
library which also implements SSL, available under the MPL, GPL or
LGPL? Hardly a vendor lock-in.
The licence on OpenSSL clearly says:
* 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this
* software must display the following acknowledgment:
* "This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project
* for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit. (http://www.openssl.org/)"
Which quite clearly indicates that any time anyone mentions the SSL
feature of PostgreSQL in "advertising material", they must include that
line of text. I imagine at least the following pages on the website
might need to be adjusted:
http://www.postgresql.org/about/history
http://www.postgresql.org/about/advantages
One can debate whether they are "advertising meterials" or the
enforcability of such a licence, but its intent is crystal clear. We
should probably place something on the website warning commercial
distributors of this restriction. This is the kind of crap the GPL is
against, which is why it's incompatable, to raise awareness with
people.
See also the pgAdmin list for what they did:
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgadmin-hackers/2004-09/msg00357.php
Have a nice day,
--
Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> http://svana.org/kleptog/
> Patent. n. Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a
> tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone
> else to do the other 95% so you can sue them.