Is WordPress’ licensing too strict?
Owen Winkler, who leads the Habari project, makes an interesting case for how “…Habari absolutely slaughters WordPress” in the licensing department. He sums up his thoughts this way, which I think would raise just about anyone’s eyebrows that works with WordPress.
“So that’s it. Before you even get into the technical merits of the platforms, think about the license, especially if you’re a theme developer. Slapping a Creative Commons license on your theme will work just fine for Habari. Doing it for WordPress is a violation of their license.”
He says this because WordPress is released under the GNU General Public License that states that if you create a work that contains any part of WordPress it must “be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License”. Which is pretty much anything built “on top” of WordPress, right? Plugins, themes, small widgets, all have WordPress’ built-in functions in them.
Should this be a real cause for concern? Owen thinks so. There is some interesting chatter in the comments of his post too.
Source: One Way in which Habari Absolutely Slaughters WordPress.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I think this might be a bit of fearmongering. Those Wordpress functions used in your theme or plugin are API functions you’re taking at face value, not unlike apps that use glibc on Linux or the Win32 API on Windows. Those applications are licensed separately from the platform on which they run - why is the Wordpress case any different?
September 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
glibc is released under the LGPL, which specifically permits derivative works to make use of its functionality without “tainting” the derivative works’ licensing. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_C_Library
GPL contains the viral licensing stipulation, and WordPress’ use of the GPL license means that derivative works that are released are obligated to be licensed with a GPL-compatible license. Derivative works you make but don’t release can be licensed however you want.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
The GPL is the most popular Open Source license in the world:
http://www.blackducksoftware.com/oss
It’s about 1771% more popular than the Apache license. Open Source seems to be doing okay.
In my opinion, the GPL is the most moral license available as well, which is why I’m such a strong advocate of it.
September 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Indeed. There is nothing wrong with the GPL. It’s very altruistic, and that’s a good thing to be.
It nonetheless virtually ensures that any downstream value in the sale of a theme or plugin is lost to its original developer. Meanwhile, Habari’s use of the Apache license assures freedom for both the user and for the developer.
Thanks for plugging my post, Colin. I do think this issue is an important one, even outside of Habari, for protecting the rights of artists and developers who don’t dwell on these legalities.
By the way, I don’t “lead” Habari, I’m just one of the guys on a management team that anyone can work to be a part of — another important distinction between Habari and WordPress.