Topic: The Forks are here!

[AngelinaBelle]

And it is exciting to see. Everbody knew that the switch to the BSD license made them likely. It should be invigorating to have more developers testing and sharing their own improvements to SMF. With two forks under development, one of which is already available for download, it is now possible to compare and contrast SMF forks. And the SMF team hopes that Forks Discussion becomes a popular board -- we can all learn a lot from each other.

Nightwish has already  made available his unnamed open-source fork, along with all his plans and comments along the way.

Nao and Arantor, two talented developers well-known at simplemachines.org, are developing another fork, called Wedge. They've made their entire changelog available (and it is an interesting read). As soon as they release the code, we'll see which license they've chosen. So far, they have not expressed interest in using a BSD-like license.

Jeff Lewis recently commented (in SMF Forks Coming! ) that these forks are a step toward the SMF community working "toward being the open project it [was] always envisioned to be". And that's a great vision for SMF.

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edit: fixed typo.
 

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

This truly is an open doorway to new, unexplored realms for SMF - and I'm personally hoping, waiting to see this board get busy

[Bloc]

A good step towards friendly interaction between any possible forks.

+1 to the team for setting up this.

[Jeff Lewis]

What I really want to see here is am embracing of each other. Sure there has been blood and slights on both sides/all sides but I am really hoping people can maintain civility here and lets leave all the mud flinging outside 

[Kindred]

Jeff,

Our goal, as expressed in the rules of this board, is to welcome and embrace the concept of (Open Source) forks and those who make them.

We had a long journey to release SMF under the BSD license. We want to encourage people to  continue with that open license/concept as well as encouraging those who may choose to fork. They bring new, interested blood into the discussions as well as introducing potential for new ideas, new approaches and new coding.

[(Ha)²]

This is a great move, and one that encourages building the best free forum software possible, in my opinion. The end user probably isn't going to care what name is on the software; they are going to care about what the software does.

[Akyhne]

Great step forward, really. This is the reason why I joined the team a few years ago - to be part of an open source project where people help each other out for free!

I also like that non hostile or non true Open Source forks are the only ones who can post about their projects here. But maybe the team should make some guidelines to what can be used and what can't.

What about mods other people made and are available at simplemachine's modsite and theme site? Can they implement them in their own projects? Some of these mods are not under a BSD licence and don't allow redistribution. Should they even be on the download pages?

[Kindred]

this is getting somewhat off-topic....

but no...   if a mod is not BSD licensed, then it (technically) can not be included in any fork without the original author's permission.

As for them being available on the download site here...   we allow mods with different licenses, as long as they are free (money) to be distributed on our mod site.

[NBK*Twitch]

this is getting somewhat off-topic....

but no...   if a mod is not BSD licensed, then it (technically) can not be included in any fork without the original author's permission.

That is partly wrong. As long as the mod is using an open source license like the mit license you can add it to the fork without issue. It is one of the good things about being open source

[Eliana Tamerin]

I think Kindred means if the license is not one compatible with BSD then the mod can't be included. So licenses like MIT, Apache, LGPL and WTFPL (just to name a few) are probably fine. Some like SMF's old license, GPL (unless the fork wishes to become GPL), or something definitively closed source aren't possible.

[青山 素子]

Some like SMF's old license, GPL (unless the fork wishes to become GPL), or something definitively closed source aren't possible.

You probably meant SMF's predecessor, YaBB SE.

Anyway, it could still be possible, as long as the licenses between the components are compatible. The licensing of the whole would just become the most restrictive of them all, namely the GPL. So, BSD, LGPL, and GPL combined would be under the GPL as a whole.

[Douglas]

The only thing I hope to see is that any fork that comes through at least gives a nod to SMF.  It's been a brutal road to get SMF where it's at now, so I'm personally hoping that a good amount of the forks will pay homage to the originators.

[live627]

The only thing I hope to see is that any fork that comes through at least gives a nod to SMF.  It's been a brutal road to get SMF where it's at now, so I'm personally hoping that a good amount of the forks will pay homage to the originators.

I know Wedge does. It has a list of all  the SMF developers in the credits section.

[AngelinaBelle]

Wedge.org is currently running an RC version of SMF 2 with a custom theme. The credits came with.
When they are ready to show off their fork, then we'll see their license and who they credit.

[DoctorMalboro]

What if I want to fork the SMF's template system and to be still a part of SMF, is it possible?

[Drunken Clam]

Wedge.org is currently running an RC version of SMF 2 with a custom theme. The credits came with.
When they are ready to show off their fork, then we'll see their license and who they credit.

I think you'll find live627 was referring to Wedge the software, not Wedge.org 

[Eliana Tamerin]

What if I want to fork the SMF's template system and to be still a part of SMF, is it possible?

If a fork is open source with a BSD compatible license, then it's entirely possible the SMF team may be interested in exchanging features with forks. Credit will be given as appropriate by the license chosen, but the code may eventually find its way into SMF proper, yes. Will it? That's up to the SMF dev team. You can make a fork and try it.

[Kindred]

I think he meant - can he start his own fork, yet remain part of the SMF teams (mod/translator/support/etc)

Answer: yes...

[AngelinaBelle]

I think you'll find live627 was referring to Wedge the software, not Wedge.org 

That's good to know.  I have not seen Wedge the software.

[Aaron]

Fantastic move, team! It'd be great to see this board full of interesting topics in a few months.