Actually in reading some of the forums at SMF about their license, the developers seem to have a valid point--that when they allowed redistribution it created extra headaches for them. Is that just an excuse? Others may know better. They seem to be committed to keeping it free--says so right on their home page. I can’t disagree that open source is the ideal for trying to sync with another app, i.e. Modx, but SMF sure has a lot going for it and it seems to me that a package mod wouldn’t be a horribly difficult way to work with it. Users would still have to download from them, and you’d have to put a mod package on their site which users would have to install in a second step. So it does create extra work for the user, but not that bad. As far as their code changing, they keep everything archived, so it’s not like you’d have to keep up with every revision.
But bottom line, it certainly can’t hurt to have multiple options available to Modx users, so if you think you’ve found a good one and are willing to make it work, that’s super. A joint venture as Carsten suggests would be very cool indeed. Given the power and flexibility of Modx, it could be just the ticket to add power to a simpler forum app. Maybe someone should be asking around???
I am not a lawyer, but their license seems 100% incompatiable with GPL-licensed code, thus making integration a tricky subject. If you write MODx code that glues into SMF is that a derivative work of MODx or SMF? The two options are mutually exclusive and incompatiable.
YABBSE was a port of the perl app YABB. The idea was simply to have a php version of that app. I don’t know if they aimed to have better security but they did not. Now it’s a joke as smf it does not have better security but what they have done is incelude a way similar to easymod on phpbb to autodownload and install updates. Anybody that knows anything about easymod knows that that is simply insane. The first time you add an modifications to your board that conflict with an update and you autoinstall it you are going to be left with a broken board that will need fixing. They are asking for disaster and making it look like icing on the top of the cake. If all you do is run a stock board then this will not be an issue.
Yes exactly not being able to redistribute it makes it completely 100% incompatible with the gpl, rpl, and quite a few other os licenses. Open source has nothing to do with weather or not you can see the source it has to do with your rights when you do get it. SMF’s license is 100% against this freedom.
Now I am not saying anything about it’s developers they may be a great bunch of guys and they may keep it free.
All I’m saying is that I’m not wasting my time on it. It also has nothing to do with weather or not i can redistribute it as they have made it very clear that they allow mods and things. They do prefer you to use some kind of proprietary license for your mods but I don’t think they require it.
Everything it has to do with is my freedom to do and get the work done I need to get done. At the end of the day if an opensource project offers even close to what i need I spend my time with it instead of a closed source product which smf is. (remember closed source does not mean weather or not you can look at the code but what you can do with it once you have it)
I simply do not have enough time in the day to wast on closed source apps that give me no freedom or rights at the end of the day.
IPB was much the same at one time offering a free version and the only issue was that you could not redistribute it. Well now it’s commercial and the free one is no longer available. All the users out there have no choice either move on to something else or pay for a 2.x version, or continue to get hacked every other day due to security issues. Sorry I don’t need them or ipb.
Now back to my thread.
My board is back up thanks for the patience. I’m not a graphics wiz so if any of you graphics masters out there would mind whipping of a set of buttons for it that would be great. I will be releasing any themes I do for others so be aware that it would go for others also and you will get credits in the read me file or whatever. Thanks.
hmmmm, Ryan, yoiu thinking of converting?
Might be a good idea. It probably might bring more attention to the site due to the support of other GPL projects.
Nothing against vB, IPB and such but ... I too would like to vote for a unified front.
Tangent-Warrior
And speaking of this, any chance of seeing a sneak-preview of this module as it stands now? I’m trying to figure out my roadmap for a couple of sites, and if I can see the scope of what’s involved and what’s possible for implementing a phpBB version of it, then I can finally make a decision as to how I’m going to proceed. Right now, without any decent examples to ground myself, I really don’t know where to begin, otherwise.
Know this thread is a bit old, but will it finally be SMF or not ?
Vanilla is nice, simple board with a different approach, could be nice.
But why not consider
PunBB which fast, resilient and feature rich... Or
UNB, for that matter ? Both are GPL.
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