[Mageia-webteam] Forum installation (almost) complete

[Michael Scherer]

Le mercredi 23 février 2011 à 10:21 +0100, Maât a écrit :
> Le 23/02/2011 10:06, Michael Scherer a écrit :
> > Le mardi 22 février 2011 à 21:41 +0100, Maât a écrit :
> >> Le 22/02/2011 16:09, Michael Scherer a écrit :
> >>> Le mardi 22 février 2011 à 15:08 +0100, Maât a écrit :
> >>>> Le 22/02/2011 13:42, Michael Scherer a écrit :
> >>>> If we don't use .htaccess then all these configs need to be moved to apache vhost config
> >>> IMHO, that's safer.
> >>>
> >> Ok but we'll probably need to change rewrite rules from time to time...
> >>
> >> => problems to expect sooner or later
> > Speaking of that...
> >
> > The phpbb_seo package is under a license called RPL, according to the
> > COPYING file. This license  among others force us to provides the source
> > code of the forum if we deploy it ( even privately ) for at least for 12
> > months after we decided to stop use it.
> >
> > That's quite a strong requirement, but that's not the only issue.
> >
> > FSF say this is not compatible with GPL. ( see
> > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#NonFreeSoftwareLicense ,
> > search "reciprocal public license", there is also others reasons )
> >
> > Phpbb is distributed under the GPL, and I would like to be sure there is
> > nothing fishy about that.
> 
> We could relicense the whole under AGPL v3 which fullfills all requirements (and a little more) ?

I wish that would be so simple. 

1) the RPL has a provision that limit the amount of money that we can
charge for distributing the source code :
" You may not charge a fee for any
copy of the Source Code distributed under this Section in excess of Your
actual cost of duplication and distribution of said copy." , point 6.1.

Dropping this do not seems possible as we are not the copyright owners
of the code. 

2) the main requirement of AGPL is that you must redistribute the source
code to users ( users being people that access the code with the
network ).

The requirements of RPL is that you warn the developper of the
deployment :
point 6.4
"c. Source Code Availability. You must notify the software community of
the availability of Source Code to Your Extensions within one (1) month
of the date You initially Deploy and include in such notification a
description of the Extensions, and instructions on how to acquire the
Source Code. "

and that we distribute the code for 12 months :

"
6.1 Availability of Source Code. You must make available, under the
terms of this License, the Source Code of any Extensions that You
Deploy, via an Electronic Distribution Mechanism. The Source Code for
any version that You Deploy must be made available within one (1) month
of when you Deploy and must remain available for no less than twelve
(12) months after the date You cease to Deploy. You are responsible for
ensuring that the Source Code to each version You Deploy remains
available even if the Electronic Distribution Mechanism is maintained by
a third party. You may not charge a fee for any copy of the Source Code
distributed under this Section in excess of Your actual cost of
duplication and distribution of said copy."


So RPL has more requirements than AGPL, so we cannot relicense. 

3) Even if it was possible, phpbb seems to be under gpl v2 only, and
agpl v1 is incompatible with gpl v2, agpl v3 is compatible with gpl v3,
but I do not know for gpl v2 and agpl v3 compatibility. So this may be
another potential problem.



-- 
Michael Scherer