Xtrato Designs Themes compability

New Member Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 1

WebSite: http://www.3d-hq.com
Theme: XD-Andromeda
Default Theme: DeepBlue
PHP-Nuke Version: 7.7
Patched Version: 7.7

Hello,

We are having theme conflict with Chatserv's patches. We had forum error such as <br /> So I installed his patches and everything worked except for Xtrato's Theme.

Code:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare opentable() (previously declared in /home/xdrhq2f/public_html/themes/XD-Andromeda/theme.php:29) in /home/xdrhq2f/public_html/themes/XD-Andromeda/theme.php on line 28

His code include("theme.php"); is required to get the theme.php to work, that code is located in header.php. We have tried alot codes to get it work but no luck, When I use the default theme- DeepBlue it works with the code

Code:

include_once("themes/$ThemeSel/theme.php");

. But XD-Andromeda will not work in different code that we had tried. Xtrato had been trying to help and fix the errors but we cannot fix it because He is not aware with your Patches yet. So we are hoping to find solution for it. We are hoping that you might know more about that code.

Code:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare opentable() (previously declared in /home/xdrhq2f/public_html/themes/XD-Andromeda/theme.php:29) in /home/xdrhq2f/public_html/themes/XD-Andromeda/theme.php on line 28

The line 28 is

Code:

ä\¤

It has variety of character letters in theme.php, Xtrato can explain more about it because I am not aware about it yet. Hopefully you might know and help to solve the error.

Thank you for your time

E-Mail: gabielovesken@hotmail.com

BreeZe - Gabriela

registered · Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:51 pm

Is there some code that you include theme.php more than once? It doesn't with the Patched files, but maybe some other addon you have does

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:45 am

Line 28 is corrupt code. That much is certain. There is no such thing as ä\¤ in Nuke.

Check to make sure that you have uploaded these files correctly.

New Member Joined: Oct 19, 2005 Posts: 13

Line 28 Code of the my themes have been encrypted with Zend Optimizer.

I would like to have a quick talk with Chatserv or anyone who has deep knowledge of the patches.

Best Regards. hope to hear soon.

Regards.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:36 am

I'm just curious... why would you encrypt theme code? I mean that makes fixing compliance and other errors impossible.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:21 am

64bitguy wrote:

I'm just curious... why would you encrypt theme code? I mean that makes fixing compliance and other errors impossible.

ok to First before answering your question, Back In December I Encrypted The XtratoDemon Theme , today its being shared over 20 Sites, download about 10000 times or more.

I worked on that theme for about 2 weeks or so..... Someone Decided to Give it to someone Whom he took like 2 weeks as well to decrypt it and to crack trough the security encryptions....

now to answer your question.

The Reason For Encryption is to Secure the themes, to ensure that they can not be Re-Distributed trough the web Illegally.

As for fixing Errors ETC, i have taken all measures to provide the user with the Necessary Files to edit the theme and to update the theme accordingly, The only thing encrypted is the Main Source Code and Security Scripts. There are External Files that get called by the Main file, in those external files you can modify , Edit and add code to external files... thus allowing reliability for the themes.

As for people who think there are back Doors in my scripts, well the truth Is that there no backdoors or anything such as that, but its for the user to trust the Designer. The only things being encrypted are the security codes, so when the customer Buys his theme, he gets a theme that wont be on all shareWarz Sites... nowadays they even have a Special Category for Commercial php-nuke themes.. witch is pretty sad.. So new measures have been taken against those who love to share themes from my Team.. well its not going to happen with our commercial products, and Im doing all i can to provide the customer with a very reliable theme, easy to use, update and edit. And its not impossible to fix errors, it’s a matter of knowing how to fix, that’s why we have come here, to see if we our team, can provide an fix for our customers who choose to use chat serve Patches.

although it seems that with chatServs Upgrades there is some type of conflict between his updates and some of the coding I use, that’s why I would like have a little word on his patches.

Regards. Any other questions feel free to ask.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:33 am

I should point out that PHP-Nuke is a GPL licensed solution. As the theme.php code is "Open Source" covered by the GNU/GPL license and all nuke themes rely on that base nuke code, it is forbidden to close-source or encrypt any associated code (including theme code) as it relies on this GNU GPL requirement.

In other words, to encrypt your theme code is a violation of GPL. You can of course copyright your images and designs, but distribution of closed source nuke code is license violation.

What you are doing is referred to as "Proprietary Software Linking" or "redistribution of the code with changes". The first type is forbidden under GPL, the latter is allowed, but it must remain open source and it can only be licensed as GNU GPL.

You can surely charge for support of your themes as well as for the design work or customization... even for your images, but by law you cannot restrict distribution of GNU GPL code.

This isn't an attack, I just thought that you should know.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:31 pm

well Im not so sure about that.... I see a theme more as a plug in Script.... and im sure GPL is not doing anything to protect the authors of people who Design For php-nuke.

The designers cant just sit around designing and release their designs to see them get shared within 1 week, after all the work that was put into them.

the theme.php of any theme can work in different ways, they all do not have to be equally coded, i know mine are not.. So basically I wrote my own theme.php , and as I stated... I see themes as a plug for php-nuke to enhance your php nuke site.

Well I hope i can get some help in regards of my issue.

Regards.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 12:52 pm

You need to read the FAQ's a GNU.

The bottom line is that PHP-Nuke and all associated libraries are GPL. As your solution relies on this GPL code, it cannot be closed source. This is a fact, not an opinion. While you may consider your time on this substantial, those that have fixed that code already consider their time important too, as well as those that have modified all of the code that makes the theme.php work and do what it does. Thus, you are taking away from their efforts in violating GPL.

The bottom line is that the theme code, regardless of how much effort must be GNU GPL to be distributed for PHP-Nuke. Your other option is to simply not offer it and keep it for self-use. You can't have it both ways.

Again, you can charge to download it, you can charge for support, you can charge for a lot of things, but you cannot prevent nor restrict redistribution and you cannot encrypt the source-code. To do so violates GPL. If you don't like that scenario, your only choice is to develop themes for non-GPL based CMS solutions where you might be permitted to encyrpt the code. But first, you'll need to find such a solution and then find out how to look at the code that would allow you to develop your themes. As non-GPL code is probably encrypted itself.

Again, PHP-Nuke is Open Source GPL code. You either are a developer that abides by those conditions of GPL or you are in violation of the law and could face sanctions, lawsuits or even prosecution for copyright infrindgement.

Unfortunately, until GPL 3 comes out, there really is no middle ground. Again, your only other alternative would be not to distribute the code at all.

For more information, please refer to GNU GPL FAQ's at:
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic and also scroll down to:

Quote:

If a program released under the GPL uses plug-ins, what are the requirements for the licenses of a plug-in.
It depends on how the program invokes its plug-ins. If the program uses fork and exec to invoke plug-ins, then the plug-ins are separate programs, so the license for the main program makes no requirements for them.

If the program dynamically links plug-ins, and they make function calls to each other and share data structures, we believe they form a single program, which must be treated as an extension of both the main program and the plug-ins. This means the plug-ins must be released under the GPL or a GPL-compatible free software license, and that the terms of the GPL must be followed when those plug-ins are distributed.

If the program dynamically links plug-ins, but the communication between them is limited to invoking the `main' function of the plug-in with some options and waiting for it to return, that is a borderline case.

and

Quote:

Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public?
The GPL does not require you to release your modified version. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.

But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users, under the GPL.

Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.

I realize this is a bitch for some, but this is the nature of Open Source and GPL. If you don't like the rules, sorry, but these are the rules. You can of course publish your copyrights in your themes and require that your notices, icons and backlinks not be removed. This is the copyright protection aspect; however, you cannot encrypt or otherwise close, GNU open-source code. It's not legal.

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:04 pm

I guess we need to Contact GPL , they are basically enforcing the Distribution of Commercial products..

I will be contacting them on this matter... things change trough Time and I think they also need to change certain Agreements...

Basically what us the designers do is enhance the look of nuke, we tend to work hard for some, so we deserve a little compensation... now for someone to re-distribute freely, seems pretty unfair..

But I will be contacting them on this matter...

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:33 pm

GNU does not enforce licensing issues related to distribution of commercial products, they merely own the copyright of the GPL license and publish the specifications. Enforcement is left to individual copyright holders; however, they do render opinions regarding enforcement issues relative to whether or not there is a violation of the GNU General Public License (any version), in this case either version 2 of the GPL.

I have several email addresses of GNU contacts if you need additional clarifications, but again, the language the FAQ's page is very clear in defining what you can and cannot do and clearly your themes are in violation of GNU GPL.

My major concern for you at this point is that you could get into serious trouble with Mr. Burzi whom has already gone after people for this, or get into trouble with any other theme designer that makes any claim that you have pirated code and encrypted it.

This puts you at severe risk of financial liability and in harms way of lawsuits from 1000's of different sources. What's more, you could face penalties for violating GNU GPL itself. This is all very dangerous and liable grounds that I would try to avoid at all costs because once you wear that brand it is almost impossible to get rid of it and could hamper your abilities to distribute other code in the future, nevermind your reputation.

Your best protection is offically copyrighting your images. You cannot copyright the layout only because that definition is protected by the Nuke global copyright. You can however copyright the specific look of your theme by taking screen captures and including that in your published copyright. If anyone were to replicate this work, they could be sued for copyright infrindgement.

I want to mention that my attorney here in New Hampshire is very good at this stuff (he is the Xerox copyright and patent attorney that makes sure that anytime anyone says the word "Xerox" instead of "Photocopy" that Xerox gets a royalty.) and if you think your images or "look" have been pirated by another theme author, this is probably the last firm that anyone wants to have knocking on their door. My personal experience has been witnessing him getting a domain shut down by court order in less than 24-hours. The firm is very aggessive about enforcement, but they aren't cheap either.

My concern for you is that this kind of thing could happen to you. If anyone could demonstrate that you are violating Copyrights by encrypting open source code, your domain could get shut down for violating the law. This is really a situation where your host must protect themselves from liability. Again, a reason why I think you should really look into this and address it very quickly.

If you need any contact information, let me know. I can help in that regard.

Steph

Client Joined: Jul 19, 2005 Posts: 68

How about handing over some money to Chatserve, Raven or the team for there work in protecting us.

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 2:46 am

I wanted to mention that if you are really concerned about this issue, the easiest way to address it is to make all of your themes into two seperate downloads.

The first download = all of the code
The second download = all of the images

In this scenario, anyone could get your theme code, but they'd have to go to your domain to get the images which should solve your issues.

I should also mention that as the person the created the very first totally W3C Compliant public theme for PHP-Nuke as well as recoding the ONLY W3C Compliant Platinum Theme, how do I know that your theme code is not actually my theme code redisgned for your images?

I hope you see the delima of why nobody can encrypt GNU GPL code and understand that this is why it must remain open source.

Steph

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:10 pm

hey there thanks for your information, well yeah I guess if things cant be solved, i wont risk my designs being re-distributed...

I Rather design for another CMS, under non - GPL...

Thanks alot for the info though.

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:52 am

Xtrato I see all.themes.com now have a lot of your themes available for download by subscription on their site.
Did they bother to ask your permission to do so?

registered · Regular Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 54 Location: Sweden

I know this thread has not been adressed in some time but I cant help making this post.

I use RavenNuke because it is a GREAT package with GREAT SUPPORT from this community.

I also use Xtrato's themes because of the SAME REASONS.

I think it us unfortunate that the request for help posted by Breeze turned into a GPL discussion better suited for another thread! Did Xtrato get an answer on Breezes question?

I think Raven and Xtrato both could benefit alot from working together more.

Cheers / B

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:54 pm

I think it turned into a GPL discussion by the nature of the initail question which was about an error he had. As the theme or part of the theme was encypted it is impossible to to see if there is a conflict of code error because of the encryption.

registered · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:02 pm

Xtrato wrote:

hey there thanks for your information, well yeah I guess if things cant be solved, i wont risk my designs being re-distributed...

I Rather design for another CMS, under non - GPL...

Thanks alot for the info though.

I also believe that this post may have had something to do with it...

Theme Guru Joined: Nov 01, 2003 Posts: 1006

any number of would have been happy to help but with an encrypted theme file it is virtually impossible. As a theme designer you shouldnt encrypt as it makes editing a theme hard on the consumer. Of course, that is just my two cents on it. As far as gpl is concerned. Releasing the theme files and the images seperatly solves the issue.

Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 11:20 pm

I know people here are helpfull, thit is why i keep returning Smile

I was just a little bit concerned about the direction the thread took, and of course you areall right in your responses to my post. I just know how frustrated X has been with his work being ripped of time and again.

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:15 am

Well i want to thank 64bitguy, for allowing numerous dishonored people to hide behind his words , thanks to him, it has allowed the re-distribution of all non-free designs from all designers not just me, Kenetix, mtech, Zeronix, effectica, and many more.

We are greatly discouraged by these people , we help the community in anyway we can, releasing all types of free goodies , releasing publics and supporting php nuke.

Even if the scripts were free... The images are still our copyright. My Next Public will be dedicated to 64bitguy .

Thanks!.

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:51 am

As much as I sympathise with you and all the other theme designers, module authors etc, the simple fact is that no one is hiding behind words spoken by anyone.

The real issue here is with the way the GPL GNU license works and the fact that FB chose this license for his code.

To blame an individual who has no control over the code license is, with respect, a little short sighted of you.

Are you releasing your theme code and images seperately? If you are and someone else is making the images available without your permission you have every right to seek redress legally for breach of copyright and I would be the first to encourage you.
In fact, if you have any proof of anyone stealing your images I'll even put a Wall of Shame on my site for anyone to use and add that site to my Spam database.

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:20 pm

Agreed. 64bit is correct. As long as you package it together it falls under GPL. It is a sad fact but none the less true. If you follow his advice, or that of some of the rest of us, your images will be protected. I wish you luck with this. It is an issue all of us face. I only give images in my free themes. The others are done seperatly. The point is that the code contained in the files falls under GPL and cannot be encrypted. That is just something we all have to live with when using nuke.

New Member Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 18 Location: UK

I was not going to post on this, but I feel that there must be a little sympathy for the designers, after all we are given a wealth of freebies in the Nuke community and we take that for granted.
So to all those who give there time to create for the communty THANK YOU, but lets not deprive those who need to make a living from there talent, as long as it is not abusive to the pocket....

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:39 am

That was the whole point of the GNU GPL, to ensure that those that write 'stuff' for a GNU GPL licensed product cannot rip people off by charging stupid money for things when individuals cannot do the work themselves.

So in essence, the license is there to protect people but the unfortunate side affect is that creative and experienced developers have to find alternative ways to 'fund' their time and skills. These developers should not be completely penalised because they choose to provide products that require a GPL product like nuke to work.

I know of one developer who recently released a commerce module for nuke that is encrypted BUT it has been written in such a way that it is actually a stand alone product following the same directory structure as nuke and with a few minor changes it can be configured to work with nuke. As it is sold as a stand alone product the GNU GPL license cannot be enforced as it does not apply. If the buyer wants to configure it to work with nuke, thats their choice but the authors license prevails as it is not sold purely as a nuke module.
Actually I was so impressed I bought it as a way of supporting the developer - now I just need to find a use for it Smile