Greens44 Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 I installed osCommerce 2.1 RC1 about a year and a half ago. I than started to customize all the files, add my own files, etc. The question I have is what exactly are the laws in regards to the license of osCommerce? Mainly speaking the code that you find at the top of each script: /* $Id: application_bottom.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Copyright © 2003 osCommerce Released under the GNU General Public License */ Yes the above is an edited version of the standard comment but I compacted it like that to save some space. So the question remains.. am I required to have a similar comment on script by oscommerce and even on scripts that are 100pct coded by me? Here is an example.. I re-wrote the structure of osCommerce on all files so right now my shop is running fully on XHTML 1.0 with the div/css standard floating website. That said pretty much the only "true" osCommerce code are the core files like application_top.php and some of the classes. Everything else has been re-written. Also on files that I've created myself do I need to have osCommerce's name on it or can I just have a comment like this: /* $Id: members.php 0033 2009-1-19 hpdl $ http://www.example.com Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example */ Also, I added some code from Zend Cart to improve the important security parts osCommerce leaves wide open. Am I obligated to credit Zend Cart for those code snippets and will I still have to have the oscommerce comment on top of my comment? I just want to make sure I do everything by the book but also improve the speed of my scripts and also lower filesize. Lastly, What the laws about encryption? I would like to keep a decrypted (standard) version on my hard drive but encrypt the important hard coded functions on my website. I don't plan to every sell my domain but in the event I would need to.. I could replace all of the code with the non-encrypted versions. Please get back to me. Thanks!
burt Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 If you do not distribute the files you can encrypt it as much as you want. If you sell your site, is that considered distribution? I don't think so, but that's only my opinion. You can ADD to the copyright notices, you cannot amend them, so this (or something like): /* $Id: application_bottom.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Portions Copyright © 2003 osCommerce Portions Copyright © 2003 Zen Cart Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com Released under the GNU General Public License */ would in my opinion, keep to the spirit of what is intended.
Greens44 Posted February 3, 2009 Author Posted February 3, 2009 If you do not distribute the files you can encrypt it as much as you want. If you sell your site, is that considered distribution? I don't think so, but that's only my opinion. You can ADD to the copyright notices, you cannot amend them, so this (or something like): /* $Id: application_bottom.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Portions Copyright © 2003 osCommerce Portions Copyright © 2003 Zen Cart Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com Released under the GNU General Public License */ would in my opinion, keep to the spirit of what is intended. Ok the above is acceptable for something like the checkout portion, but what about a script I wrote up from hand? Would I still have to add credit to osCommerce? I just want to prevent myself from legal issues for not properly crediting the appropriate times. Thanks!
burt Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 If the script you coded did not start out as "someone elses" script, then why would you have to put someone elses copyright on it ;)
Greens44 Posted February 3, 2009 Author Posted February 3, 2009 If the script you coded did not start out as "someone elses" script, then why would you have to put someone elses copyright on it ;) Well I mean it does point to a few of the common oscommerce commands such as tep_href_link(***) Although that comment has been completly re-written I kept the function name the same so if I ever need to service it it still is osCommerce "like".
Greens44 Posted February 3, 2009 Author Posted February 3, 2009 Well I did the format you suggested: /* $Id: application_bottom.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Portions Copyright © 2003 osCommerce Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com Released under the GNU General Public License */ And for code created by me is: /* $Id: members.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com */ but would I still need to have the "Released under the GNU General Public License" or can I exclude that on code made by me? Thanks again for your help!
Greens44 Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 Alright well yesterday I made a complete backup of all my files. I than made a folder in the catalog named "DOCS" and I put both copies of the GNU license you get when you download an oscommerce full build and a file called "copyright". In the copyright file I put in accordance to files what copyright it has. For example: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Portions Copyright © 2001 - 2007 osCommerce Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com Released under the GNU General Public License ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ $Id: catalog/account.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ $Id: catalog/account_edit.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ $Id: catalog/account.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ $Id: catalog/account_newsletters.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End Copyright Notices ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright © 2007 - 2009 Example http://www.example.com Released under the GNU General Public License ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ $Id: catalog/members.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ $Id: catalog/rss.php 1739 2007-12-20 00:52:16Z hpdl $ . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End Copyright Notices ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Would this be an efficient/legal way to show who owns what? My current configuration I "compressed" all of the php script files. In other words all comments, unneeded spaces, tabs, breaks, enters, whitespace, etc is all removed and cleaned up. Limited javascript to one file and only has two functions in it.. one to popup a new window so I remain xhtml compliant (cant use _target) and the other is an onfocus to add some style to inputs when you click in them and css is compressed. My osCommerce entire script size is arround 850Kbs (database is about 450mb :/ ) so I have all the scripts running in the ram on my server, all images are on another server, and downloads are on another server. A standard osCommerce on this same server gets about 2.115s access time on a roadrunner connection! Now I have 0.118s access time which is screaming. You can achieve the above by converting the icky table style osCommerce to pure div/css, limit js functions (make php or asp do the dirtywork), compress everything, and run it all in ram. Boy I tell you a dial-up user can access a page almost as fast as a broadband user (before compressing files). All I hope is the above is acceptable GNU wise.. if it isn't I'll just pay a coder to completely rebuild my sites structure and claim it all my work. :D
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