Re: pg_rewind, a tool for resynchronizing an old master after failover

On Tue, Jun  4, 2013 at 01:55:27PM -0700, Josh Berkus wrote:
> On 05/28/2013 11:32 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > I think Simon has a good point, as VMWare has asserted patents on some
> > changes to their version of Postgres in the past, so if the copyright
> 
> ... which I'll point out that they *didn't* contribute, and which may
> yet get resolved in a way that benefits the PostgreSQL community.

Right.  Simon was just verifying that we were good with this new
feature, as it had a VMWare copyright and was on github --- totally
legitimate question.

> > mentions VMWare, we can't assume it is patent-free.  Just the fact you
> > had to check with the VMware legal department verifies there is cause
> > for concern about things coming from VMWare.  
> 
> That seems rather like a catch-22 Bruce.  If they don't check with the
> legal department, it's dangerous, but if they do check, it's dangerous?
> 
> Presumably if they checked with the legal department, it's cleared.  We
> should be wary of stuff contributed by company employees who *didn't* check.

My point is that there was no mention of a legal check in the original
posting, which prompted Simon to ask:
http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/519DF910.4020609@vmware.com

--  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB
http://enterprisedb.com
 + It's impossible for everything to be true. +