Open-source software is a movement that began in the software industry in the 1980s. Its origins are up for debate, but most people believe the concept came about in 1983, when a company called Netscape released its Navigator web browser source code to the public, making it freely available to anyone who wanted to dig through it, modify it, or repurpose it. WordPress software users need a basic understanding of the open-source concept and licensing on which WordPress is built because WordPress’s open source policies affect you as a user—and affect you greatly if you plan to develop plugins or themes for WordPress platforms. A basic understanding helps you conduct your practices in accordance with the licenses at the heart of the WordPress platform. This article introduces you to open-source; the Open Source Initiative (OSI); and the GNU General Public License (GPL), which is the specific license that WordPress is built on (GPLV2, to be exact). You also learn how the GPL license applies to any projects you may release (if you are a developer of plugins or themes) that depend on the WordPress software and how you can avoid potential problems by abiding by the GPL as it applies to WordPress.
IANL — I am not a lawyer — is an acronym you often find in articles about WordPress and the GPL. I use it here because I am not a lawyer, and the information in this chapter should not be construed as legal advice. Rather, you should consider the chapter to be an introduction to the concepts of open-source and the GPL. The information presented here is meant to inform you and to familiarize you with the concepts as they relate to the WordPress platform.
Defining Open-Source
A simple, watered-down definition of open-source software is software whose source code is freely available to the public and which can be modified and redistributed by anyone without restraint or consequence. An official organization called the Open Source Initiative (OSI; https://opensource.org), founded in 1998 to organize the open-source software movement in an official capacity, has provided a very clear and easy-to-understand definition of open-source. In the course of writing this book, I obtained permission from the OSI board to include it. Open-source does not only mean access to source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:
1. Free redistribution: The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an overall software distribution containing programs from many different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such a sale.
2. Source code: The program must include the source code, and must permit distribution in the source code as well as in compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably, downloading without charge via the Internet. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Intentionally obfuscated source code is not permitted. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not permitted.
3. Derivative works: The license must permit modifications and derivative works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of the author’s source code: The license may restrict the source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of “patch files” along with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit the distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derivative works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.
5. No discrimination against individuals or groups: The license must not discriminate against any individual or group of individuals.
6. No discrimination against fields of endeavor: The license must not restrict anyone from using the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of the license: The rights associated with the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without requiring the execution of additional licenses by those parties.
8. The license must not be specific to a product: The rights associated with the program must not depend on the program being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program’s license, all parties to whom it is redistributed must have the same rights as those granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.
9. The license must not restrict other software: The license must not restrict other software that may be distributed with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
10. The license must be technology-neutral: No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.
The preceding items incorporate the definition of open-source provided by OSI. You can find this definition (at https://opensource.org/osd. Open-source software source code must be freely available, and any licensing of open-source software must adhere to this definition. Based on the OSI definition, WordPress is an open-software project. Its source code is not available in any way.
Examples Of High-Profile Software Enterprises
Many examples of high-profile software enterprises, such as those in the following list, are also open-source. You will recognize some of these names:
»Mozilla (https://www.mozilla.org): Community whose projects include the popular Firefox Internet browser and Thunderbird, a popular email client. All projects are open-source and are considered public resources.
»PHP (http://php.net): An HTML-EMBEDDED scripting language that stands for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is popular software that runs on most web servers today; its presence on your web server is required to successfully run the WordPress platform on your site.
»MySQL (https://www.mysql.com): The world’s most popular open-source database. Your web server uses MySQL to store all the data from your WordPress installation, including your posts, pages, comments, links, plugin choices, theme choices, and widgets.
» Linux (https://www.linux.org): An open-source operating system used by web hosting providers, among other organizations.
As open-source software, WordPress is in some fine company. Open-source itself is not the license; I cover licenses in the next section. Rather, open-source is a movement—some consider it a philosophy—created and promoted to provide software as a public resource for community collaboration and peer review. WordPress development is clearly community-driven and focused.
Read Also:
- Exploring Basic WordPress Concepts
- Top 10 WordPress Security Tips
- WordPress Widgets
- How To Use WordPress Plugins
- WordPress Frameworks
- How To Install A WordPress Theme
- How To Create WordPress Posts And Pages
- IntroducingThe WordPress Admin Panel (Dashboard)
- How To Install WordPress
- Something About WordPress
- Why Start Blogging With WordPress
- Which One To Start Blogging With? Difference Between WordPress VS Blogger
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