BuddyPress.org

@Scotm

The conversation has a little traction over here

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/new-theme-framework-and-exisiting-wp-themes

you will want to read over this as well.

https://codex.buddypress.org/how-to-guides/upgrading-a-buddypress-1-0-theme-for-buddypress-1-1/

Hi there,

I’m getting the same error when I try to activate buddypress.

Buddypress 1.2 RC2

Wordpress 2.9.1 (not MC)

mySQL 5.0

hosting is done by 1and1.com

I’d appreciate any help you can offer…

@thebloghouse

…thought about selling our plugin and making some cash per user download but the main inhbiting factor for us was that we would be limiting it’s reach by it not being available in the WordPress repository.

I believe it is important to give back to the community–especially if you directly profit from using any of the WP ecosystem products. That is why many people prescribe the freemium model where you offer a standard version of your plugin for free (this is the one you host on the WP repo) and then offer your premium version on your on site or another hosted site.

It is important, in my opinion, to offer real value in the standard version, not just fluff that whet people’s appetite and then makes them trade up to the “real” plugin. With regard to this point, along with additional functionality, one of the differentiating factors between your standard and premium versions could be support level. You offer basic support for the standard version and more robust support for you premium version. It is up to you to decide what standard and robsut support actually means.

Again, in my opinion and the opinion of many others in our community, themes and plugins must be GPLed. There are certain exceptions like the few I outlined in my first post in this thread. Another exception is if you call a propritary algorithm hosted on a remote server via an API–much like the Akismet service’s code is not GPLed. However, I am not a software attorney (or any other type of attorney for that matter), so if you do want to sell non-GPLed themes or plugins for use with WordPress, I suggest you contact one before doing so.

Since a lot has been written about the GPL issue, I suggest searching the Web for more details if you’re interested.

Lots of different opinions about this, but lets face it, will wordpress sue you if you don’t use GPL license on your plugin/theme? Anyway, I haven’t found any legal evidence that your forced to use GPL on your plugin/theme, just speculations and opinions.

Vladimir Prelovac gave solutions of this problem on his blog a while back.

The solution exists and is technical in nature. For plugins you can develop your whole code as a library under your own licensing model. Then you would have the wordpress plugin which will call functions from your library. The plugin itself becomes GPL but the library not and you are free to slap any kind of license and restriction to it.

For themes it is a bit of a different story. Having read the GPL FAQ carefully this is my interpretation. First solution: You do not need to call any WordPress functions in your theme, but you can connect to the database directly and get the information you need. This method is possible but not elegant at all.

Second solution is to have your theme in external php files and one WordPress index.php. This file will use WordPress functions and only include() your files as neccessary. Again index.php would fall under GPL, all other files won’t.

Set up a test environment on your local pc and create your website, plain php and theme changes can be copied easily to a new place (another server for example), just db stuff needs to be implemented later, make sure to test this on your local pc before going to your live site.

When your sure the site is running correctly on your local pc and you found out a way to copy the db stuff to your fresh installation on your local pc, make a new clean install with the same settings on your live site, remember to notice members on this before doing the upgrade. Put your site behind a htacces maintenance referral, excluding your own ip, so you can still edit and test the site, but others get to see the maintenance page. If everything goes right, you’ll have your new site running in no time.

MAKE SURE TO BACKUP THE WHOLE OLD SITE BEFORE SWITCHING TO YOUR NEW ONE!

@ David: Yes there’s a plugin for wordpress that allows you to put it in maintenance mode as well, but then there would have to be a wp installed already, the above solution just refers to a html page through htaccess.

Really interesting thread guys.

We are a few weeks away from releasing our first and potentially very lucrative plugin (WP not BuddyPress) and thought about selling our plugin and making some cash per user download but the main inhbiting factor for us was that we would be limiting it’s reach by it not being available in the WordPress repository.

In an ideal world we would also like to do the ‘nicer’ thing and go down the GPL route for everything we do without thinking twice but at the end of the day after many months of development your first GPL plugin is the hardest one to get out the door as it is a complete mind shift from the old closed software model we have been used to!

If you’re using WordPress MU, the groups admin menu can be found under “Site Admin > Groups”

This site uses an external bbPress install, and is not the conventional BuddyPress method for setting up forums.

An example of the conventional BP method can be found here: http://testbp.org/forums

If you like the way the bp.org forums look, you’ll have to integrate WordPress with bbPress.

One guide to integrate WP and bbPress can be found here:

http://theeasybutton.com/blog/2009/07/17/integrating-buddypress-wordpress-mu-and-bbpress/

Other WP/bbPress guides are available over on:

https://bbpress.org/forums

I think you can do it the same way as upgrading theme from 1.0 to 1.1..

https://codex.buddypress.org/how-to-guides/upgrading-a-buddypress-1-0-theme-for-buddypress-1-1/

Anoying for you, but the backend is exactly the same, except the BP menu

instead of downgrading, i would suggest you wait the next version of wordpress in 2 or 3 months, where both wpmu and wordpress are merged seamlessly… right now, you have no real possibility to make it go independant or you play with the database…

@Peter:

I believe the plugin is called BP Member Filter:

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-member-filter/

You will have to license your work under some version of the GPL that at minimum offers the freedoms that the WP GPL offers.

What others have said above is basically correct. The GPL does not say anything about free as in cost. It is about freedoms of the end user. In fact, the GPL does not discourage developers or theme designers from making money off of their work or someone else’s work.

However, the GPL is very specific in how this is to be done: either by charging a distribution fee, a support fee, or both. So, in effect, you are not charging for the code itself. The vast majority of Premium plugin shops simply charge a distribution and support fee. If their plugins are not GPLed, then something is wrong.

Here are two great links from the GNU website that explain this very clearly:

Selling Free Software

The Free Software Definition

By the way, IMO there should not be a double standard in the WordPress community. Premium theme designers abound. Premium plugin developers should also be afforded the same respect and opportunity. The crucial point is that their work, like premium themes, must remain licensed under the GPL.

Of course, as Matt Mullenweg has stated on numerous occasions when discussing the issue of premium themes, although the PHP must be GPLed, the CSS and JS of the theme can be copyrighted. The same holds true with plugins. But, in my opinion, doing so is just too picky. I prefer to GPL everything–the PHP, CSS, JS, etc.

Now, you could choose to license your work under the AGPL, which is considered to offer more freedoms to the community. The basic difference from the GPL is that any changes made to your plugin, even if for private use, must be returned back to the community. Under GPLv1 through GPLv3, it is acceptable for any code changes to a plugin to remain private if the plugin is never distributed.

One final thought. I’ve stated this before in other places. Many people in the WordPress community seem to be moving beyond the spirit of the GPL, to a more utopian, share and share alike vision. There’s nothing wrong with that if it happens. But the GPL has never been about free as in cost.

This tutorial worked for me:

http://theeasybutton.com/blog/2009/07/17/integrating-buddypress-wordpress-mu-and-bbpress/

It’s a little old, but the basic premise is the same.

Hi DCartwright. I would say that the GPL even allows anyone to take WordPress core and release an ‘improved’ version and charge for it as long as it’s released under GPL as well. You know that the WP plugin repo requires GPL, but whatever you decide, you’ve got my 1pence or more