Comments on: How "free" is GNU?

Question: How "free" is GNU?

GatorDavid — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:37:56 -0800

GNUFilter: Building a for-profit website that needs forums. Don't feel like writing them from scratch. Can I safely use something like this, released under GNU?

Or am I going to end up in a heap o' trouble down the line? Should I just write my own forums? If I should buy, any suggestions?

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:47:19 -0800

As I understand it, the GPL protects against distribution of derivative code without continuation of the license and the source of the distributed derivative. However, simply using—or altering and use—a GPLed project, without distributing the software, is implicitly fine.

So if you're building an in-house tool for said website—say, modified forum software running on the site—but not intending to distribute that tool to others, you should have no issue whatsoever. For that matter, you can distribute and even sell the original or the modified code, so long as you make the source freely available and properly include the GPL according to the stipulations included in the license. However, if you (or your employer) would object to respecting that, you could have a problem.

By: alikins

alikins — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:03:50 -0800

Yes.

Using GPL code for that is fine. As cortex mentioned, the GPL is all about distribution of the program and it's code.

I'd take a look at Big-boards.com for a good place to see what sites run what. But as the site title suggests, some of those forums are enormous. (actually, big-boards.com might make for an interesting fpp...)

By: humblepigeon

humblepigeon — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:05:59 -0800

Yes, use it and abuse it. You can rewrite the code if you want to, without any obligation to release that code. The only obligation to share your changes comes if you want to redistribute the code to others. Of course, it's good practice to share your code, especially if it's a bug fix. But you're under no legal obligation to.

By: blueplasticfish

blueplasticfish — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:17:54 -0800

I love Vanilla. I am not sure what license it is released under, but I know it is free. Check it out.

By: gsteff

gsteff — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:40:51 -0800

The short answer is that, yes, that's allowed. For a more definitive explanation, see the GPL FAQ, particularly these two questions:

By: wireless

wireless — Fri, 25 May 2007 16:38:17 -0800

phpBB is also a popular choice. It's GPL'd, but as other people have explained, that isn't a problem.