Re: How to include PostgreSQL Copyright notice

> The company I work for has decided to use PostgreSQL database as
> its primary db for its major product.  PostgreSQL's major role is
> for data storage and retrieval by various applications and UIs.

Good choice :)

>   - Is including the COPYRIGHT file from the PostgreSQL sources as
>     part of our distribution be:
>       + Sufficient?
>       + A starting point?

It is (probably) sufficient. If you have documentation on your product,
then it would be good form to acknowledge the copyright (at least
briefly) there also.

>   - Do we need to have a hardcopy of the contents in COPYRIGHT
>     file included with our hardcopy documentation?

You can reformat the copyright to the typeset style that the rest of
your documentation uses. And you can refer to the full copyright which
might be included elsewhere in your distro.

>   - Should any of our software display PostgreSQL Copyright
>     information:
>       + upon execution?
>       + upon execution with either --version or --copyright
>         option?

I don't believe that is necessary, unless you are using an existing
interface which already displays that information. Then we might
consider it bad form (but probably not a copyright offense) to remove
it.

However, the BSD license does not preclude modification of the code, and
the license does not insist that *every* place the copyright now appears
should always behave the same way.

>     What about:
>       + Php pages?
>       + Daemon processes running in the background?
>       + Command line processes (those similar to psql)?

You are building on top of PostgreSQL. Your apps have no direct runtime
obligation to explicitly acknowledge copyright on the layers underneath.
Your distribution should acknowledge copyright on those portions you
include. The goal is to not percolate the PostgreSQL name up into your
application, but to acknowledge the copyright on the portions where it
is appropriate.

You will note that the copyright is not worded to retain strong rights
for the PostgreSQL developers, but rather to make certain that we do not
assume an obligation of liability under any circumstances. Your
customers should be aware of that where necessary and your layered
product is where the "buck stops" for liability issues.

It is important to not unduly obscure those points for your customers.
But the copyright requirements are mild: distribute it with the binary
and/or sources, distribute it with PostgreSQL docs or docs derived from
our docs, and (best to) make it available somewhere reasonable in your
application docs if they cover database issues.

This is not a definitive answer, and others may speak up to help clarify
it. But on the whole you are probably already headed in the right
direction by trying to include the copyright notice *somewhere*. The
rest is in the "good form" category.

hth

                   - Thomas