I think this an excellent idea. I would sure use it. It is the only way to do it with the GPL.

Mith, what is the basis for saying that all themes must fall under the GPL? The FAQ says modules do not have to, why would themes be different?

JMass

PS - I am going by what I read in the GPL:

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.

I too have outsourced many projects.

There would probably be a lot of interest, but could we get enought developers, programmers, theme designers, etc, etc, interested.

I've already spoke to developers about making this type of module for use in a XOOPS environment and have something in planning.

Do you have MSN, maybe we could discuss this a little further?

tom, i just registered xoopslance.com/net/org for this purpose, keep me updated on what you guys do, and i'll host

Does who have MSN?

If you ment me then I use AIM...

OBSJMassey

Feel free to PM me.

JMass

Sorry JMass, yeah it was you I meant, lol.

BD, I'll let you know of any progress.

I've seen many scripts that can do this, would just need a intergration into Xoops. (These are commercial scripts I've seen)

Edited

Also meant Rudycash

I am on MSN rudy_cash@hotmail.com

JMass, it is my opinion that all modules and all themes - except for logos and other images, which can be copyrighted - consist of code, which cannot work without XOOPS. Since XOOPS is GPL, so must the theme and module be.

So in my perception it is in violation with the license to say "You can only use my theme if you keep the visible credits - i.e. a link to my site". What the theme writer CAN do is say "Images used in this theme are copyrighted by me and you may not use them on your site without credits - i.e. a link to my site - visible on the page"

but that is just your opinion, not necessarily endorsed by the XOOPS team, correct?

I'd be inclined to agree with Mithrandir here from my fairly shallow understanding of the GPL. Code under the GPL can be modified as much as you want without condition. The only way I can see to place conditions on an item under the GPL, is to include something that falls outside the GPL which from my understandng an image would. Same way as you cannot charge money for a GPL product, but you can charge for your time, bandwidth and server. This is my understanding anyway.

We've had this discussion many times before - you CAN charge as much as you want for a GPL product, but you cannot impose ANY limitations on the buyer, once he has got it. Therefore, selling a GPL product at $500 may be a good way to make $500 - but you cannot in any way prevent the buyer from making it available for free downloads.

Similarly with themes, I think - themes are code just like a module. Try opening up a theme.html in a normal browser and you will see nothing special. Why not? Because the CSS file to include is decided by XOOPS.

Including a GPL product in something, which is proprietary licensed, does not nullify the GPL license - and it will probably not nullify the proprietary license and therefore most likely not to be legal to do so without breaking at least one license. By including copyrighted images in a theme, I would interprete the rules such that the images can be copyrighted, but the theme itself cannot.