The WordPress developers have just clarified its license as “GPL version 2 or later,” putting an end to some frequent confusion.
WordPress contains libraries which are licensed under the GPL “version 2 or any later version,” which obviously excludes version 1 of the GPL. Here is the reality: the GPL version 1 is effectively irrelevant. It hasn’t been a commonly used license since before Matt Mullenweg was in third grade! Clarifying WordPress as being licensed under the GPL “version 2 or later” resolves these niggling library licensing concerns or ambiguities, and clarifies where WordPress stands.
As with any licensing discussion, the post has generated some interesting comments, which makes for some entertaining (if not educational) weekend reading.
Technorati Tags: blog, blogging
Original post by James Huff
Technorati Tags: blog, blogging
Thesis has officially adopted a split GPL license, putting an end to the explosive debate between WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg and Thesis developer Chris Pearson which launched a community-wide discussion on the GPL and WordPress themes.
To clarify the split GPL license, Chris Pearson adds, “the PHP is GPLv2 and the CSS, JS, and images are proprietary.” Specifically, this means that Thesis no longer violates the GPL of WordPress and the several plugins that Thesis was based on. Matt Mullenweg was thrilled to hear the news, replying with, “Now, back to work. This has taken a lot of my time over the past few days and was going to consume more if it went forward.”
It is unknown if this will have any affect on Mr. Pearson’s business. While the split GPL license now allows the core of Thesis be redistributed by a third-party either free or for a fee, the […]
Original post by James Huff
Technorati Tags: blog, news
Yesterday, I wrote about a problem Matt had about the GPL license with the Thesis Theme. Though I am not biased and seriously do not want to get into an argument about it, let me put forth an argument that I think is really worth thinking about.
Many of you reading this blog and probably who don’t read this too might have a blog, where you write rich and unique content and probably also have copyrights on the content. It could be licensed copyrights or some sort of Creative Commons. Nevertheless, you might also have a terms of use which dictates how others can use your content.
Now, this world is full of sploggers and there is no way you can stop that. But when it comes to your own blog you will tend to take some action against people who copy your content. This action could be politely asking them to […]
Original post by Keith Dsouza
Technorati Tags: blog
Yesterday, I wrote about a problem Matt had about the GPL license with the Thesis Theme. Though I am not biased and seriously do not want to get into an argument about it, let me put forth an argument that I think is really worth thinking about.
Many of you reading this blog and probably who don’t read this too might have a blog, where you write rich and unique content and probably also have copyrights on the content. It could be licensed copyrights or some sort of Creative Commons. Nevertheless, you might also have a terms of use which dictates how others can use your content.
Now, this world is full of sploggers and there is no way you can stop that. But when it comes to your own blog you will tend to take some action against people who copy your content. This action could be politely asking them to […]
Original post by Keith Dsouza
Technorati Tags: blog
Not too long ago, I published a post which dove into the controversial subject of comment ownership and I must say, you guys and gals came up with quite a bit of discussion points. In that post, here is how I described my position on the matter:
I don’t believe a commenting bill of rights needs to be created in which all blogs should follow. However, I do think that each blogger should create and make publicly accessible a commenting policy. This policy should clearly explain what you as the blog author will do with comments posted on your site, who retains ownership of those comments and explain circumstances which would require you to edit an end user’s comment.
For those of you that agree, I’d like to draw your attention to Alex King’s Comment License WordPress plugin. This plugin makes it as easy as 1 2 3 to add a commenting […]
Original post by Jeff Chandler
Technorati Tags: blog, blogger
