By harishsave on

Hi All,

I'm new here, Infact I think I'm the newest member.

I have one project where I have to develop a portal (like yahoo) with features like Groups, Friends, Chat, Events, News etc. Can drupal handle this all tasks. Some part of the portal will be commercial so can I
use Drupal for that?

Guys guide me through this.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Harish Save

Comments

nsk’s picture

nsk commented

yes, Drupal with the right modules and modifications can handle a portal fine.

--
NSK, Founder of the Wikinerds Community. See my Drupal site: The Wikinerds Portal.

harishsave’s picture

harishsave commented

Will there be any licensing issues as some part of the site will be commercial.

eldarin’s picture

eldarin commented

The GPL concerns the distribution of the software.

I.e you can modify and tweak to all your heart's concert, but you are bound by the GPL if you start distributing the modified software to others.

You can run any commercial service you like on Drupal; you are not distributing your modified Drupal modules in any case. Your data content and all your services you provide are only governed by you, and not bound by the GPL or any additional license to Drupal so you can do what you want.

Take care to see if any Drupal modules you are using carry any additional licenses a part from being bound under the GPL.

Someone should probably get an ok to write a Licensing FAQ with regards to Drupal and modules to reflect the stance of Drupal. Dries has posted some remarks on how he sees a strict interpretation of the GPL in line with FSF interpretation, and he is the one with the main copyright and mandate to do so. Individual (contributed and distributed) modules can of course carry several additional GPL-compatible licenses beyond the GPL license.

sepeck’s picture

sepeck commented

you intial description, no.

-sp
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain

-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide

nsk’s picture

nsk commented

You can get Drupal and use it in many sites (that belong to you); you can modify its source code too. But if you give your modified source code to any other person, you must abide by the GPL. If you are ok with the GPL, you can also sell the modified source code under the GPL licence. I am not a lawyer, IANAL, TINLA.

--
NSK, Founder of the Wikinerds Community. See my Drupal site, the Wikinerds Portal.

chx’s picture

chx commented

My understanding is that you can do whatever you want with Drupal as long as you are running it on one site.

When you begin to give away your modifications, then some problems may occur (or may not) but this is not your case...
--
Read my developer blog on Drupal4hu.

--
Drupal development: making the world better, one patch at a time. | A bedroom without a teddy is like a face without a smile.

nsk’s picture

nsk commented

they can run it in multiple sites, GPL doesn't limit themselves to one site. IANAL, TINLA.

--
NSK, Founder of the Wikinerds Community. See my Drupal site, the Wikinerds Portal.

eldarin’s picture

eldarin commented

Unfortunately, many are misinformed about the GPL and are root to misunderstandings for others. Perhaps some will try and correct this by putting up some official information in line with FSF interpretations.