Comments on: SK2 is no more

By: Spontaneous Monotony

Spontaneous Monotony — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:33:13 +0000

CORRECTION: Spam Karma 2 is no more...

I have discovered a mistake in the post ‘Spam Karma 2 is no more‘ - my intrepretation of the ‘viral clause’ in the GPL (which requires that all derivative works be licensed under the GPL) was incorrect - I thought it meant that ...

By: David Russell

David Russell — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:20:49 +0000

I re-read the GPL and I’ve discovered that, as you said, I made a mistake - it DOESN’T actually forbid using non-GPL libraries/plugins etc. in GPL software, the ‘viral clause’ actually only applies when you are distributing a modified version of the GPL software, which by using SK2 I’m clearly not. In fact, I’ll put a correction on the article itself and write a new correction article - this could have caused confusion to other people reading the article.

By: dr Dave

dr Dave — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 11:43:01 +0000

You probably should have contacted me with your issues regarding this licensing scheme.
As for the reasons why I chose not to license SK2 under the GPL, they are listed on SK2's page (along with a clear statement regarding licensing). To be honest, I could probably find another OSS license that satisfies me, I just do not think it is worth my time (and to some extent: my legal competence) at the moment, and given the relatively small size of SK2, I prefer to deal with any licensing or user request on a case-by-case basis (I have so far answered favourably to all such requests).

Now, as for the implied notion that I would be violating WP's own GPL license. This is 100% inaccurate and indicates only a very loose understanding of both copyright laws and GPL terms.

SK2 is a plugin for WP, that does not incorporate or even bind in any way any amount of WP code. As such, it certainly does not fall under the WP license. As far as I know, Matt (WP's lead developer) is wholly aware of SK2's licensing status and has never expressed any reservation during our many conversations.

Now regarding your use of SK2: if you feel that you do not want to be running any non-GPL software on your server, this is a choice you are entirely entitled to, of course. But if it is your opinion that software should always be unequivocally free (as in OSS-free), I sure hope you are donating to Michael and other people whose OSS software you use.

Anyway, good luck and good blogging!

By: David Russell

David Russell — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:15:34 +0000

I’m not actually interested in the Bad Behaviour Blackhole list, the main reason I use the plugin is to check against various RBL/DNSBL servers.

By: Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 09:48:04 +0000

You would have known, long before posting a comment, if Bad Behaviour had done anything bad…which really isn’t the point.

I still recommend using more than one anti-spam plugin (repeatedly, in fact). Though Bad Behaviour Blackhole is probably not the best choice; the list it uses hasn’t been updated in months.

Right now I use Bad Behaviour (of course!) and Akismet, a few small parts of which I wrote.

By: David Russell

David Russell — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:57:15 +0000

This is a test comment - to see if:
a) Bad Behaviour has totally screwed up comment submission (hopefully not)
b) The AJAX commenting in K2 actually works (hopefully yes)