From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Erik Wienhold <ewie@ewie.name>
cc: Ian Lawrence Barwick <barwick@gmail.com>,
        Siddharth Jain <siddhsql@gmail.com>, pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Publishing Postgres Manual as a book
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Comments: In-reply-to Erik Wienhold <ewie@ewie.name>
	message dated "Thu, 23 Mar 2023 05:02:11 +0100"
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Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:33:06 -0400
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Erik Wienhold <ewie@ewie.name> writes:
> On 23/03/2023 04:34 CET Ian Lawrence Barwick <barwick@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Also not a lawyer, but the full sentence is:

>>> Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
>>> documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agre=
ement is
>>> hereby granted

>> which in my non-lawyerly interpretation means anyone copying, modifying=
 and
>> distributing the documentation may do so without paying a fee. A distri=
butor
>> could charge what they like.

> I know the fee clause from licenses such as Zero-Clause BSD, ISC License=
, and
> GPLv3.  They state "with or without fee" or "gratis or for a fee" pertai=
ning to
> the distribution.  That's also how I interpret the fee clause in the Pos=
tgreSQL
> license with the difference that it does not permit taking a fee.

No, I agree with Ian: our license says that the Postgres project does not
require a fee.  It does not say that someone redistributing the material
can't charge for their efforts.  It would obviously be ridiculous to
expect someone to print a multi-thousand-page book and then give it away
for free.

I do question the practicality and environmental cost of putting such
short-lived material on dead trees, though ...

			regards, tom lane