pgsql@mohawksoft.com wrote:
> I'm probably just being alarmist, but think about some IP lawyer buying up
> the entity that owns the GPL code, and suing end user's of PostgreSQL.
You cannot retrospectively change the terms of a license unless the
licensee agrees to it. If something is released GPL, then the GPL
applies to that code and subsequent derivatives - that's the point of
the GPL.
The new "owner" may change the terms of a license for new distributions
of a package, assuming they actually own all the IP, and this is what I
understand is the SCO issue. SCO claim that code that was distributed
was done so without permission.
For an opposite effect, see the origins of the OpenSSH project; to
summarise, folks found than an older version of a (at that time) vaguely
licensed ssh was BSD licensed ans it was used as a base for a new
product - namely OpenSSH.
rgds,
--
Peter