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Wednesday 01 September 2004 2:32:49 am
I see a lot of talk about just how you can use eZ publish under the GNU GPL all the time. I see a lot of people who seem to not understand the large amount of freedom that the GNU GPL provides. The following are all examples of using eZ publish with the GNU GPL Licence not the eZ publish Professional Licence.
<b>Distribution</b>:
I may install eZ publish on a production server that is available to the world.
I may install eZ publish on an internal server that is not available to the world.
I may do both and it is not considered distribution unless give the software to another party. In which case you should also make your source code available to the community to comply with the GNU GPL. <b>Personal Website: </b> Running eZ publish on a web server does not count as distribution of the source code or binary of the source code. It not like distributing a binary as a person can not use the application without the server. The question turns towards the fact that the difference between me using eZ publish on a world accessible production server for my needs and the world simply being able to use my "installation" of eZ publish, which doesn't mean I'm distributing the application. <b>Distributing an eZ publish Web site:</b> Now lets say I take my personal website which has been configured to run effectively and meets my needs and make a copy of that eZ publish installation. That copy is allowed under the GPL. Now lets say I take that copy and re configure it to run as a web site for a small corporation, government organization or organization. I may <i>not</i> sell the web site as a product under the terms of the gnu gpl. To sell an eZ publish site as a product . . you must have an eZ publish professional licence per eZ publish installation. I don't know if you can transfer your eZ publish professional licence to the client during the sale, I don't think you can, I think the client has to buy their own eZ publish professional licence.I'm not sure if you and your client <i>must</i> both own an eZ publish professional licence. <b>Instead</b> of selling the web site as a <i>product</i>, I opt to <i>sell my time</i> as a web developer to design, build, configure and install eZ publish on behalf of the client. I can make all the money I want, If I sell my <i>services</i> to the client not eZ publish products. I have this idea that the real money is in selling services and support rather than products, an Idea seems to be a very popular idea in the Free Software / Open Source Software (F/OSS) Community. I build the client's web site / application using eZ publish (internally), test, prepare a public beta of the application for the client to review (external). Take client feedback and make any necessary revisions and repeat the beta process, once the application is approved by the client, I get <b>paid</b>. Pending payment for services rendered, their custom eZ publish application goes to their production server and is prepared to go live. Clients always change their mind and want more than they originally asked for, you can plan to meet their needs long term or accept a list of never ending changes. If you value your time, limit the client's ability to request additional changes, write a scope of work document that the client must agree to before primary development begins. Now lets say you want to keep the client long term, the best way to do this is to plan, stick to you guns and your plans. Clients want to turn you inside out if you let them, above all satisfy the client. Sometimes this may not be enough to keep a client. You can do several other things to help keep the client, like rebranding . . .
<b>Re Branding</b>:
I may rebrand eZ publish on a production server that is available to the world.
I may rebrand eZ publish on an internal server that is not available to the world. You might read this and think I'm completely wrong. I assure you I am not. Under the terms of the GNU GPL anyone may rebrand a package as they see fit with one very important clause that allows rebranding of any software licensed under the GNU GPL. The clause is this, you must provide to the user a way to view the credits of the application.
There are many ways to provide the credits of a web applications.
1) Have the text at the bottom or side of the page (less professional looking)
2) Provide a menu link (could be a sub menu link of the an about menu category) to a credits page. I first credit my company for creating the custom web application, second I credit eZ systems and eZ publish vX.X.x (v2.2, v2.3, 3.4.1) as the original author of the base package (i don't have say it is rebranded, just state the facts honestly). Third I assign copyright / copylefts regarding the content of the website (text, images, site design), and address any other content ownership issues like " All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2004 The Firm " Example:
(credits page)
Design Copyright
theapplication.example.com
Content & Visual Design © 2004
TheFirm All Rights Reserved.
Web Application is free software released under the GNU/GPL
Application Source Code Copyleft
xPublish
4th Generation Web Application & Content Management System
Version : 2.x.7
Brookins Consulting
Work based on the Program eZ Publish 2.2.x
Copyright (C) 2000 eZ systems
GNU General Public License (Link to GPL Licence Text)
(All Pages Footer)
Content & Visual Design © 2003 - 2004
The Firm All Rights Reserved.
Web Application released under the GNU/GPL (Link to Credits Page)
You need to know and follow the terms of the GPL, yet the terms are very loose when talking about just how you can full fill on the terms of the GPL, which gives people the freedom to be creative when creating your own implementations and solutions.
<b>Distribution of the Application</b>
When you setup the application on the client's production server you can do so in several ways.
<b>Work smarter, not harder -- Scrooge McDuck</b>
I suggest other people become smarter than their peers, imagine the smartest person you have never met, and do what that person would do. With enough reading you can learn to do anything, usually it will also be legal if you build a strong background in the subject before acting rash.
<b>Encode the Production Server's installation of the php code</b>
If I was really interested in keeping a client what would I do? Install and test the application, encrypt the application using Zend.com's Encoder, which prevents the client from modifying the source code directly. (Ok with the GPL as that essentially creates a binary of the application).
<b>Encryption of Source Code</b>
If you encode the source code (php only I think) you <b>must</b> provide the source code to the application to the client, but that doesn't mean you have to make it easy to get to the source code. Build a source code cd that contains the full source code and sql of the eZ publish application encrypted using GPG with a readable plain text file and any other data / information required to decrypt the source code to human readable form. Build a MD5 Hash of the encrypted pacakge to tell if the package has been tampered, all of the above is in the interest of the client's application security ;) I've never done the above yet . . . as it seems dirty but then I would do the above rather than buy an eZ publish Professional Licence. I'd rather buy eZ systems support time than buy an eZ publish Professional Licence.
<b>Distribution of Source Code</b>
This can be a grey area depending on just how your creating your solution. But it boils down to this, it goes against "The Spirit of the GNU GPL" Licence to withhold useful improvements, modifications of GPL Software from the community. If you think that kracker withholds his changes from the community then you don't know that I started http://ezcommunity.net/ to release all 3 years of my source code improvements and modules back into eZ publish, I am the primary contributor to http://ezpub.co.uk/ as well. This is the path I have chosen as a Free Software Developer, question my intentions. Be creative, be innovative, don't be afraid to do something new and unique, just ask if what your planning on doing is allowed by the GPL, if it is allowed, just do it! <b>Who's Interest are you going to pay out to?</b> Is it any wonder that people ask about what is allowed with software package licensed under the gpl when eZ systems has substantial financial Interest in selling eZ publish Professional Licences? What sunrises me is that users / developers would actually ask a GNU GPL Licence question in the ez.no forums instead of a mailing list or forum dedicated to free software / GNU GPL Licence questions. Go find an unbiased answer on the rights of a GNU GPL Licence you don't need eZ systems to tell you about the GPL cause it's not in their interest to explain the GNU GPL to you, <i>it's in eZ systems interest to only mention the parts of what is allowed in a way that increases sales of eZ systems Professional Licences</i>. <b> I'm not nocking eZ systems, they have to make a profit</b>, that doesn't mean you have to pay them for right's you probably don't want or need while using eZ publish to develop custom solutions and applications. <b>The BIG Question</b> Ask yourself these key questions:
- Do you need to sell your eZ publish application as a product?
- Do you need to sell your eZ publish application without any credit to eZ systems as the creator of eZ publish? If you don't need these rights, you may in 95% of the time not need an eZ publish Professional Licence. If you feel determined to contribute to eZ systems financially I suggest you buy support, you'll get more mileage for your money. <b>Theme</b>
kracker's eZ publish Development Theme Song: Aesop Rock : Easy
(Find the song and you might understand just why, IF you even give it a chance) Fearing the eventual backlash from telling the truth can't seem to keep me from firing first with subliminal entropy . . . Aesop Rock, Vast Aire, Yeshua Dapoed : Sinister While the back of my mind reminds me that subliminals don't work . . . . or was that reverse physiology ?
//kracker
preparing for the temperature of my own nuclear winter . . .
if you don't <i>care</i> to understand after all of this then you may never . . . .
Aesop Rock : Labor References:
GNU GPL:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/pragmatic.html
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CanIDemandACopy
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesWrittenOfferValid
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowDownloadFee http://www.free-soft.org/gpl_history/
GPL Compliance for Software Developers:
http://www.foo.be/rmll2004/legal/DavidTurner/outline.html
http://www.foo.be/rmll2004/legal/DavidTurner/slide-15.html
http://www.foo.be/rmll2004/legal/DavidTurner/slide-16.html#top
Derivative Works:
http://zgp.org/linux-elitists/20031208025013.GA8116@zork.net.html
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html#SEC3
Rename / Rebranding :
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2004/04/msg00433.html You can rebrand and rename GPL Software, you need to give credit where credit is due. You can not claim the product as your own creation as if you wrote the entire software on your own.
Thousands of GNU GPL sofftware packages have come from existing packages in part or a near verbatim copy. Just look at all the PHP Nuke Clones available on the net, many developers have rebranded / forked the original phpNuke project's source code (licence under the GNU GPL) to create:
http://www.nukecops.com/article65.html
http://phpnuke.org/modules.php?name=PHP-Nuke_HOWTO
http://phpnuke.org/modules.php?name=PHP-Nuke_HOWTO&page=history.html
http://phpnuke.org/modules.php?name=PHP-Nuke_HOWTO&page=communities.html
http://phpnuke.org/modules.php?name=PHP-Nuke_HOWTO&page=php-nuke-forks.html
I talked a little about this (much more brief) at the eZ Pub Forum:
http://forum.ezpub.co.uk/showthread.php?p=299#post299 http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=GNU+GPL%2C+What+is+Allowed&btnG=Search http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=GPL,+Derivative+works&spell=1 http://zend.com/store/products/zend-encoder.php
eZ publish Professionsal Licence:
http://ez.no/content/view/full/130
http://ez.no/products/ez_publish_pro/increase_your_business_opportunities_with_ez_publish_pro
Member since: 2001.07.13 || http://ezpedia.se7enx.com/
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