Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> Yeah. I invite you to do all the extra (useless) development work
> required. But please do not charge other people with it. Whoever
> investigates patents and lets pgsql-hackers know about them, is charging
> the Postgres community with that work. We sure don't need it.
As a developer (different project that uses pgsql), I am no more happy
about the current status of the USPO than you are. I think it's a giant
cess-pool of greed, ignorance and waste... BUT... it is currently the
law in the USA.
How fast would Oracle, Microsoft or others jump on a chance to tear
PostgreSQL apart by dragging it through the courts and crushing it under
any fines (regardless of the amount)? If that happened, *all* of the
pgsql-hacker's time would be wasted, never mind the countless other
projects that rely on PgSQL.
As Scott said, there are 0 good answers to this problem. If PgSQL is
going to be active in the US then it has to play by the (bent and
twisted) rules. That is why I started my comments with "call your
congress(wo)man". Simply ignoring that which you don't like is just far
to risky with the sharks in our waters.
It's extra work, and it's unfair to the developers who already put their
free time into this program, but IMHO it's the only safe way to go.
Again though, not being a pgsql-hacker my comments here are just that.
Madi