Joomla GPL License Issues
Filed Under Technology
The recent debacle with the strict implementation by Joomla of the GPL license still hot and fiery. It has put a number third-party developers at a lost, breaking their business model especially those that sites selling Joomla templates on a per site basis and on a separate license incompatible with GNU/GPL. The GPL license states that if you sell or download a particular GPL licensed software, you can install it in as many sites you want or in as many computer that needs it. So that means selling a template in a per site basis is illegal. And that’s just one thing. Another is that simply distributing a component/module/plugin that is non-GPL compatible or even a GPL-compatible component connecting to a non-GPL-compliant appliacation makes the component non-compliant is also illegal. It is the viral nature of GPL license that says that.
The “Program”, below, refers to any such program or work, and a “work based on the Program” means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
One third party component affected is the SMF Bridge for Joomla. The bridge combines two excellent scripts to create one powerfule website, if used correctly. But there comes the problem, the bridging of two systems. Since Joomla is licensed through GPL, it should only be connected to a GPL-licensed software. SMF comes with an SMF license and though it is still free, it is incompatible with GPL. So in effect, you cannot distribute a non-gpl compliant bridge.
The keyword here is “distribute”. Basically, you can still bridge the two softwares so long as you still have a copy of the bridge or you made one yourself. However, SMF will no longer distribute(they already did) the bridge and that means you’re on your own when a new Joomla version comes out. You will be lucky if that new version will not break the existing codes. Take note that it is not illegal to connect the two softwares as long as you are not distributing that bridge. And SMF is just a sample.
As I can see it, it will take some time for all the smoke to clear up. As an end-user, what I can do is just wait. I’m just hoping that everybody will find ways to break the current deadlock.
For the full GPL version2 license, click here