Joomla Extentions Directory and GPL

Dear "Omry Yadan",

We at the Joomla Extensions Directory want to remind you that, as announced 6 months ago, on 1 July are going to change the directory policy to list GPL Extensions only. As always, commercial and non commercial extensions are welcome on JED as long as they use the GPL license.

The deadline for changing licenses without being unpublished is http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=7&day=2&year=2009&hour=00&min=55&sec=0&p1=103.

This change is intended for to bring it into line with the overall mission of the Joomla Project. After careful thought and reflection, the Joomla! Project determined that the Joomla! Extensions Directory should be a community resource that fully embodies the project's values, especially freedom as exemplified by the GPL license.

Policy changes
We have implemented some policy changes to
– Enhance support of GPL developers
– Address concerns about relicensing.
We think that the best place to get an extension is from the original developer of that extension. Therefore we will not link to collections of GPL extensions that are not submitted by the original developers. These are not requirements of the GPL license but rather fall in line with our "forking" guidelines.

Forked projects
…
Non-GPL extensions
In order for you as developer to keep a non-GPL extension listed you need to relicense it to GPL.
You do it through to add two elements to each source file of your program:
– a copyright notice
– statement of copying permission, saying that the program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License –
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-howto.html
– adding a <license> tag to the header of the extension XML file
– including a copy of the GPL license in your distribution. This does not need to be copied to the user's server on install, but must be included in the distribution.

Note for GPL extensions:
– You need to state on your website that the extensions are distributed with the GPL license
– You can't add any conditions that restricts or contradicts the GPL license.

We thank you for your patience during these transitions. We will  extend any assistance possible to making the transition as painless as possible for everyone involved. The project is committed to providing the information and help that developers need in order to relicense (or to license for the first time, if there is no current license).

The JED editors and members of the Core Team and Open Source Matters board are ready to advise or assist any developer who would like this help. If you have any questions about licensing or want help, then you can contact OSM with the following email address license@opensourcematters.org or the JED editors
team@extensions.joomla.org

Some frequently asked questions

What if I have some GPL and some non-GPL extensions?

This policy refers only to those extensions listed in the JED. Your GPL extensions are permitted to be listed on the JED but your non-GPL extensions are not.

Where can I get information about how to license my product using the GNU GPL?

Every copy of Joomla includes a copy of the GNU GPL with instructions for licensing in the license.php file. Instructions are also available from the Free Software Foundation.

All you need to do is add two elements to each source file of your program: a copyright notice (such as “Copyright 1999 Terry Jones”), and a statement of copying permission, saying that the program is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. (Free Software Foundation)

Can I use GPL v3 to license my extension?

Yes. In particular, you may need to use GPLv3 if you rely on certain third party libraries or APIs for your extension.

Can I use libraries in my GPL extension that are GPL compatible?

Yes.

What GPL version is Joomla! licensed under?

Joomla! is licensed under GPL version 2 or later.

Why are only GNU GPL licensed extensions being listed?

The simple answer is, making the JED a GPL only resource is the easiest and most practical solution. It frees the JED team from having to investigate or worry about licensing issues. It frees OSM from having to create and maintain a list of one or more acceptable licenses. When you break it down, other licenses were created because they opposed one or more parts of the GPL. The only license that truly embodies the spirit of the GPL is the GPL. Throughout the Open Source world, there is plenty of disagreement over what that spirit is and there is even more disagreement over what licenses are compatible and incompatible. In the end, our list of compatible licenses might be very different from yours. Our list of licenses that share the spirit of the GPL will most certainly be different than yours. So, we could waste months of time researching a list and debating which licenses should be included and excluded or we can make it simple and easy to understand for the community, the developers, and the JED team so that we can use those precious months to focus on the real point of this project: making great software.

Can I use a GPL compatible license?

The JED will only list extensions licensed using the GNU GPL.

What if I think my extension doesn't violate the Joomla! license?

This is a policy in favor of software freedom and the mission, vision and values of the Joomla! Project, not one about technical issues in licensing.

…

What does this mean for enforcement of the Joomla! license more generally?

Enforcement of the Joomla! license is a separate issue from the policies of the JED.
If you have relicensed in recent days, thank you for your cooperation.

…

First of all, I am both a user and a developer of several open source projects (some of which are using GPL, although I generally prefer BSD now because it puts less constraints on the end user).

the way I see it, you are trying to FORCE me to change my license, and I find this unacceptable.

FireStats is not a Joomla plugin, it's a full fledged application that happen to support Joomla (and many other systems).

If I will dance to the tunes coming from WordPress, Jooma,Drupal or any other supported app, I will never get anywhere.

I am sorry, but I have no intention of changing my license.

feel free to remove FireStats from the Joomla extentions directory.

if I decide to re-license it under GPL I will list it again.

it is a pity because FireStats got great feedback from the Joomla community, but I am not going to step over my principles because of this.

the license under which I decide to release my software if my own decision, my mine alone.

Omry Yadan,

FireStats developer.