[Python-checkins] python/dist/src/Doc/lib libbsddb.tex,1.9,1.10

[Gregory P. Smith]

On Wed, May 28, 2003 at 09:28:08AM -0400, Barry Warsaw wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-05-28 at 03:56, greg@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
> 
> > ! NOTE: BerkeleyDB has its own license which may apply to you if you
> > ! intend to distribute your application outside of your organization in
> > ! a non-opensource manner.  Visit Sleepycat Software's website to read
> > ! the full license.
> 
> I'm a little concerned about the wording of this.  Every time I've asked
> Sleepycat about it, they've told me that as long as you use BerkeleyDB
> via the Python bindings, and because Python is OSS, there are no
> restrictions on its use.  You can't separate BerkeleyDB from Python and
> use it in a commercial product, but then why would you want to?  But it
> is fine to use BerkeleyDB-in-Python in a non-open source product without
> requiring a separate license.
> 
> That is at least my understanding of the arrangement.  But the wording
> above would lead me to beleive otherwise.
> 
> -Barry

Really?  I'll remove that note from the documentation since that's what
sleepycat has told you.  I wrote that note based solely on my own reading
of the BerkeleyDB license without asking sleepycat for any clarifications.
If they choose to consider python the OSS application that BerkeleyDB is
being distributed as part of the interpretation makes sense.  (If they
sold/supported/maintained the pybsddb wrapper themselves they could
choose otherwise)