cannuck1964 Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Hi there, I was reading a post by Mattice on the copyright notice for the Admin. He stated that the Admin MUST have the copyright notice left intact on the pages. I understand that the source code must have this information, but the whole project has been released under GPL. With this in mind, I thought the entire project can be changed to whatever anyone wished to do with it, as long as the source copyright notice is left in. I go through the forums all the time, and have never seen anything to contradict this except for Mattice's post. If the project has been released under GPL, how can you change the liencing for that part of the project? If you are planning to release the project with two different liences, what about the people who have gotten the project prior to the change? I am curious on this since I do not wish to infringe on copyright notices. I am not saying that I am going to change anything there, but Mattice's post left some confusion in my mind.... just when I thought I had it :shock: If the admin is not part of the GPL why is it released in the same package and have only the GPL listed? cheers, Peter McGrath ----------------------------- See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harald Ponce de Leon Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 I take it you haven't looked at the PHP source code for the footer file? There are some notes in there that point you to this knowledgebase entry: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/faq,26/q,50 Section 2c of the GPL license is what allows us to enforce it. , osCommerce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck1964 Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 Hi Harald, I have done lots of reading on this, section 2c is a little unclear to me, as well I was wondering about older snapshots prior to the change last Oct. If it is allowed to be changed in the catalog part, why not in the admin? It seems a contradiction to allow it to be changed in one part and not the other.... What about work that is contributed for the admin....does it also need to have the osc copyright? or should it have both? This change in the enforcement of the GPL was not anounced and I was just curious on this is all....I would think you would have to enforce the entire GPL or not at all.....but this is something I wanted to clear up..... cheers and thanks for the reply..... Peter McGrath ----------------------------- See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattice Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Peter this thread will answer some, if not all, of your questions I think: http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24580 Mattice "Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck1964 Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 I am reading the post now..... I guess I missed that post.....I have been here for awhile now and enjoy working with osc..... I do understand you want what is yours to be acknowledged...... It is a little confusing this GPL, but I do believe in giving credit where it is due..... there was alot of discussion on this, I think it is a good idea, but wanted to know about my work as well...... cheers, Peter McGrath ----------------------------- See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattice Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 AFAIK any contribution that uses osC code fragments / can not exist without osCommerce is automatically pulled into the GPL. It is called the "GPL Viral Effect". HTH Mattice "Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck1964 Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 AFAIK any contribution that uses osC code fragments / can not exist without osCommerce is automatically pulled into the GPL. It is called the "GPL Viral Effect". Yes I understand that concept very well....if I make something for osc to us, then it is GPL as well..... but GPL and copyright notices are totally different.....one states it is protected...the other is how it is protected.... I have read over the thread and understand what is being done now... I was a little confused when it when Harald wrote osCommerce is released under the GPL license and is copyrighted work - if we do not enforce this with violations, then we lose the the GPL and Copyright rights of osCommerce. If osc is not pursuing GPL 2c on the catalog, yet wants to do so on the admin, is this not a contradiction, and no enforcing the copyright? cheers, Peter McGrath ----------------------------- See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattice Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 AFAIK any contribution that uses osC code fragments / can not exist without osCommerce is automatically pulled into the GPL. It is called the "GPL Viral Effect". Yes I understand that concept very well....if I make something for osc to us, then it is GPL as well..... Okay, I was referring to your question "my work"... but GPL and copyright notices are totally different.....one states it is protected...the other is how it is protected.... Yes, they are different things but they can co-exist. Like the default layout or logo is copyrighted, like the default layout of this BBS (phpBB Subsilver Theme) is not GPL, yet free to use as long as the copyright is left there. I have read over the thread and understand what is being done now...I was a little confused when it when Harald wrote osCommerce is released under the GPL license and is copyrighted work - if we do not enforce this with violations, then we lose the the GPL and Copyright rights of osCommerce. If osc is not pursuing GPL 2c on the catalog, yet wants to do so on the admin, is this not a contradiction, and no enforcing the copyright? cheers, No. The Admin and Catalog are not two seperate things in this matter. They are one application, osCommerce, which has several copyrights implemented under it's GPL licence. We basically say you can remove the catalog stuff if you make enough changes, but you can not remove / temper the display of the copyright message on the Admin side, no matter what you do. This is an end-user friendly solution (ie you do not have to show you are running osCommerce to anybody that does not access the Admin) and does not in any way affect what you can do with osCommerce. Mattice "Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck1964 Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 No. The Admin and Catalog are not two seperate things in this matter. They are one application, osCommerce, which has several copyrights implemented under it's GPL licence. Several copyrights? are you refering to the system and then the layout? and are there others? And thanks for the replies, I think that this project has a lot of potential and is still in it's infancy of development. Working with osc has some drawbacks, but it also has some great features as well. The copyright stuff on the admin and not the cat seems to be a contradiction to me, but what the heck, I do my work for people who are fully aware of what they are getting so it does not interfer with what I do. The idea of copyrighting the admin is a good one, but I was just a little shocked that this had been done, but fully understand the reasoning behind it also. cheers, Peter McGrath ----------------------------- See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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