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Using BuddyPress as part of a proprietary closed-source site?


  • casimps1
    Member

    @casimps1

    13 years, 11 months ago

    Hi all. My apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Nothing else seemed to fit.

    I work for a company that is developing a website for a client. Part of our client’s requirements is to have some social networking features. We have been considering leveraging BuddyPress for this. However, there is some concern about the GPL license.

    I am not a lawyer, but the GPL seems to state that derivative works based on BuddyPress must also be open source and GPL licensed. So, then I have to ask – is the rest of the website a “derivative work”? Does that mean that all of the code for this project would have to be GPL licensed and made available for free because we use BuddyPress for social networking?

    To give a clear example – imagine creating a music collaboration website. It would need social networking features, but it would have some very specific custom code needed to facilitate collaboration. Would that collaboration code legally have to be GPL’ed if the site used BuddyPress for social networking?

    Thanks in advance for any advice on this!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

  • Andrea Rennick
    Participant

    @andrea_r

    13 years, 11 months ago

    The GPL only applies to *distribution*. If your client plans on packaging up the website somehow… then worry about it.

    “Does that mean that all of the code for this project would have to be GPL licensed and made available for free because we use BuddyPress for social networking? “

    no, it does not. only if you actually *release * it. Just having it as part of your website is not releasing your code.

    think of it this way – Buddypress is a plugin for WordPress. Anyone who build a site on WordPress itself is also not required to release their code.

    (and I will note that GPL doesn’t mean it has to be free either. There’s plenty of for-sale GPL plugins and themes.)


    techguy
    Participant

    @crashutah

    13 years, 11 months ago

    I think the key that you’re missing is that if you create something that is a derivative work of BP/WP and then distribute it then it needs to be GPL. If you use BP with a proprietary closed set of software that you’re not distributing to others you should be fine.

    Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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