Simple Machines Community Forum

Is SMF Open-source? Just curious.... :)

Depends on your definition of open source.

It is everything that makes it open source (you can modify it, you can distribute instructions to modify it, you can view the code....) except two things:

  - you are not allowed to modify the copyright notice displayed (not that you can ever modify the copyright in even GPL software.)
  - you are not allowed to redistribute the forum/software itself, without written permission.

These two things have been done to reduce issues that we have experienced with YaBB SE when it was GPL.  Most of them are caused by the general public's misunderstanding and misusage of GPL and GPL software.

Please search for "open source" for more information.  I also suggest you read the license:

http://www.simplemachines.org/about/license.php

-[Unknown]

Thanks. :)

One more question:

so, is SMF in any way, protected/affiliated/related-to/etc. the GNU or GLP licensing agreement? Thanks.

It isnt possible to touch the copyright, i tried to add my little touch to it, and i changed what was written slightly, big mistake, nice message it then displays.

Well, even phpBB has a copyright which it protects, but I want to know if SMF is "protected" (under open-source licenses such as GNU/GLP) in the same way that something like phpBB is. ??? :)

Not 100% but i think its GNU, dont quote me though, what is phpBB's message when the copyright is changed.

SMF has it's own license, written in conjunction with a copyright lawyer. It gives SMF all the legal protection it needs if someone were to decide to breach the license agreement.

While phpBB is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), SMF is under a "custom" license, titled the Simple Machines License.

SMF of course is copyrighted, and we do have a lawyer to help police it.  It like all software (GPL or not) is "protected" under international copyright law.

-[Unknown]

Does it still have that bright red text with the huge letters if you change the copyright (I only chnaged it slightly and left the text that was needed) it was horrible.

or has a nicer message been created.

It does that for a reason, so people don't change the copyright! If you want to add to it do what I did on my site and just add your text after/before the function call!

I changed the file name and made it look for the new file, it didnt work to well but that wasnt on a public forum just my testing forum.

Quote from: [Unknown] on October 17, 2004, 06:14:53 PM
Depends on your definition of open source.

It is everything that makes it open source (you can modify it, you can distribute instructions to modify it, you can view the code....) except two things:

- you are not allowed to modify the copyright notice displayed (not that you can ever modify the copyright in even GPL software.)
- you are not allowed to redistribute the forum/software itself, without written permission.

These two things have been done to reduce issues that we have experienced with YaBB SE when it was GPL. Most of them are caused by the general public's misunderstanding and misusage of GPL and GPL software.

Please search for "open source" for more information. I also suggest you read the license:

http://www.simplemachines.org/about/license.php

-[Unknown]

.
Suppose if  I find  a forum  [/color] which  is using  SMF 1.0 RC2, but  has removed  all the  copyrights by  someway, or  if it has done something  wrong like call  SMF something  else say like "Powerd  By Ultima", which  the forum  adminstrator  has copyrighted, what should  I do; can I report  it or something  

Yes, it would be best to report such a thing to Jeff Lewis, myself, our lawyer, or someone else on the team.

-[Unknown]

It wouldnt be hard to spot.