CC Creative Commons v GNU General Public License.

CC Creative Commons v GNU General Public License.

by Mary Evans -
Number of replies: 4
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

I have just had to pull all my latest theme from the Moodle Repository because the Designer of the original FREE css template I used for each theme (which comes under the Creative Commons License) did not agree to my request to allow this template to be distributed under the GNU General Public License.

With my own situation in mind, regarding themes, I would like to challenge the current requirement set out by Moodle which states that...

"...All themes are offered under the GNU General Public License..."

I can appreciate that Moodle Open Source Software comes under the GNU GPL for the correct reasons, but surely Themes are more to do with creativity rather than software coding, unlike Open Source Software there is not source code as such, it's mainly to do with images and CSS which is covered by the Creative Commons License.

I'd welcome any thoughts on this topic as I am sure it is worth ironing out some problems which may need addressing sooner rather than later, especially when Moodle 2.0 theming will become more creative, more a work of art than source code.

Mary

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Evans

Re: CC Creative Commons v GNU General Public License.

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Which particular create commons license does this CSS come under?

 

Anyway, this has been debated before, and there is really no way round it.

  1. Moodle is GPL.
  2. Within the definitions of the GPL, any Moodle theme is unavoidably a derivative work of Moodle.
  3. Therefore, according to the GPL, you can only distribute Moodle Themes under the terms of the GPL.

This may not be the outcome we want, but it is a consequence of using the GPL for Moodle.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: CC Creative Commons v GNU General Public License.

by Mary Evans -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Evans

Re: CC Creative Commons v GNU General Public License.

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Right, so the problem for you there is the 'Attribution' clause. Nothing else there would prevent you from distributing under the terms of the GPL (there is not even a share-alike clause).

The Free Software Foundation have an article about the problems 'Attribution' clauses cause: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html.

Average of ratings: -