Why some themes have many licenses? And how to create GPL?
I want to convert some themes to drupal.
Just wonder why some theme have many licenses. For example Pluralism (http://drupal.org/project/pluralism).
In Drupal, Pluralism theme is GPL license. But in other CMS (Wordpress, Joomla, etc), Pluralism theme is not GPL, but Creative Commons license. They said, I cannot change the footer message.
Pluralism theme also found in CSS theme website, also Creative Commons license.
I have done conversion many Joomla templates to Drupal. Thats beautiful, but all of that is Creative Commons license. I ended up leaving the footer message "Powered by Joomla, designed by XXXXX", even that themes is used in Drupal website.
The question is, how can I make a GPL theme? For example, how Pluralism theme can be GPL?
Thanks in advance.
Ask the original author
You can ask the original author for authorization to change the Drupal version of the theme to GPL.
For some theme, I dont know who is the original author
Thanks for the reply.
But if the theme is already GPL, do I still need to ask permission to convert it to Drupal?
For some theme, I dont know who is the original author. How about that?
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If the theme is already GPL, I believe it is fair game to be re-released as GPL.
If you don't know the author's of themes, you probably shouldn't be releasing them at all. Research can be done to try and see if you can narrow down who the original author may be.
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I follow this rule of thumb:
System specific code = GPL
Images, non system specific code = other licence (such as CC).
In Drupal this means things like tpl files, code for theme functions and so on is GPL, however stuff like original artworks & non system CSS to support the design can be another licence since they are not system specific but original artworks and design by the author.
I would think you do not need "Powered by Joomla", but most certainly you need to attribute the designer/creator for the non GPL elements of the theme.
If not other licence is present and only GPL, its fair game. If the theme has a CC attribution licence then you must attribute, however if the author is not mentioned, and you dont know who it is, I would think its possible the license is void, since how the heck are you supposed to know who to attribute?
Its a common misconception that themes with GPL licence are ALL fair game, this is not the case since other licences can be in effect, certainly you can use the GPL specific code from the theme (since this is GPL) but stealing original artworks & design is ripping off intellectual property and should be frowned upon.
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