putting all copyrights togheter...

Worker Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 208 Location: Italy

I'm a little tired of a copyright line on every single module I am using and I was thinking if it's bad pratice or against GPL, to put all the copyrights togheter in a module called copyright and have only one link on the footer.
so the module would be like this:
this website is copyright of myself,
the comments are copyright of posters,
php nuke is copyright FB,
module A is copyright guido
module B is copyright Raven
module C is copyright Jens
theme is copyright whoever
and so on....

Evenctually it could be added in a db table, so everytime you add a module you run a supplied SQL query and update it.

Good? Bad? Comments?
Guido

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:45 am

I saw this one time.I know whats the idea behind and I ´m sure you also know this
but footer links don´t have the same quality like other links.
So if you play fair, thats my personal opinion maybe not the public opinion, you have to ask every author before you remove the link from your footer and use instead that module.

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:03 am

I understand your point, but the link to the copyright module would stay in the footer anyway.. it's just one step deeper than before, and in the way I see it, modules used less often, would have the same "weight".
So far, the only links in the footer are for phpnuke and eventually a theme....
Every other module that have a copyright at the bottom would only get more benefits, being linked from every single page, and not only if and when the module itself is used.
Guido

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:11 am

Okay, and where would you put the link "Distributed by Raven PHP Scripts" from RavenNuke, the link to 64bitguy,nukemods.com and the link to Daz if you have a module for this ?

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:43 am

Same module:
maybe the module name is misleading:
How about
Copyrights and Credits?

so it may look like this
this website is based on ravennuke76
fisubice theme by 64bitguy daz.. who else
sunset theme by Idontknow, but it's have been heavily modded by me.

just a little example comes to my mind.
3000 users use sunset (default theme)
300 use fisubice
200 use Deepblue
As it is now, a spider will only see the link to the makers of the default theme.
with my idea spiders will see all of them.
If I use a theme modified by 15 people, (do not worry I'm just bitching Very Happy

) do I have to put 15 links in my footer?

I make large usage of MS Analysis, but only as administrator. I do not want competitors see my stats Wink

and even less i want webcrawlers around my admin area.
Now, why the MSA's guys don't have the same chance to have a backlink as FB?

does this make sense?
Guido

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:32 am

http://www.code-authors.com/modules.php?name=Credits

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:42 pm

Guardian2003 wrote:

http://www.code-authors.com/modules.php?name=Credits

something like that, but both for all the copyrights and credits.

Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 3:16 pm

You can add whatever info you like to that as it is all stored in a DB table.

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 5:02 am

Ok, now someone else did (almost) the same thing i was thinking about.
Still the the questions are unanswered: good or bad pratice?
Against GPL or not?
Guido

registered · Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:44 am

guidyy, I believe there are statements in the GPL about "visual copyrights". You may not be allowed to remove it. You simply need to pose your question to the GPL folks. I know that Raven has asked them questions in the past and they have been responsive.

Please let us know the results. Definitely interested.

Personally, as a module writer, I am not too "keen" on the idea, but as a site operator, I am in agreement with you. How's that for "messed up in the head". Laughing

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:38 am

I googled for gpl + visual copyright but found nothing...
and again: I'm not willing to remove anything, just move into a different place....
Of course i will not even remove the copyright lines from the scripts: they will be echoed as

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:46 am

I don't mean "google" or any other search engine. What I am suggesting is that you go to the GNU/GPL site itself and pose the question to them. You have asked a question that requires a legal answer and I, and no one else here, is a lawyer... Wink

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:46 am

Well, before asking GNU, i tried to find an answer by myself lol!
I just sent a message to them.. we will see
Ciao
Guido

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:21 am

Yes it will be interesting to see what they have to say.
I use that 'Credits' module as a means to remind me of what I have installed (and version) - saves me having to click on each copyright link for each module or block or whatever.

registered · Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 6437

Like Guardian2003, I use the credit to remind me what's installed. But I also use it to give credit to the many people who suggested tweaks for which no default copyright appears, written blocks, or just provide a lot of help maintaining the site.

Guido, to answer your question, you should ask the authors before moving the module copyrights. However, there was some lengthy discussion about that hear at one time, and I believe the conclusion was that you could modify your Nuke not to display the copyright's by default, but you had to leave the module copyright file in place. Make sense? I'm definitely not advocating that anyone do that, especially without moving the copyright info to a credit page, etc. But I believe you could.

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:43 am

I finally got a reply from GNU:
this is a quote of what in the email:

Quote:

> [guido@yummyfood.net - Sun Jun 25 11:25:55 2006]:
>
> Hallo,
> I tried fo find an answer on search engines and on the gnu.org
> website, but i could not find any.
> I have a website based on software released under gpl license.
> Every add-on is released as well under the GPL, but each add-on show
> its own copyright line.
> So actually there are several copyright notice all over the webpage
> and is quite unpleasant looking.
> My question is:
> If I MOVE all the copyrights statements and all credits into a single
> page, and this page is linked from every other page of my website thru a
> link in the footer, will this break the GPL license?
> Could I eventually echo all the coprights as a html comment?
> Best regards
> Guido
> Anzio, Italy

Dear Guido,

Thank you for your inquiry about Free Software licensing.

First, allow me to apologise for the delay in replying to your message.
Since we are a non-profit organisation with limited resources, we are
not able to reply to all licensing questions as quickly as we would like.

The relevant portion of the GPL is section 2c:

c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

I had a look at your web site at <http://www.yummyfood.net/> and saw the link to your "Copyrights and Credits" page at <http://www.yummyfood.net/docs-cc.html>. It looks reasonable to me.
... cut...

Sorry once again for the late reply. Please note that this is not legal
advice.

regards,

John

Af far as I understand, is not against GPL to change where the copyright is displayed, would be illegal to remove the output.
Hope this help.
Guido

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 2:55 am

Thanks for the update Smile