One Peeved Off Theme Maker

[Jeffro]

themes which have been developed for WordPress.com are not GPL compliant because of distribution, there is none. The themes are custom made for WordPress.com only.

[chipbennett]

themes which have been developed for WordPress.com are not GPL compliant because of distribution, there is none. The themes are custom made for WordPress.com only.

That premise seems to require a rather odd definition of "distribution".

Regardless, should it matter? How can WP.org take such a hardline stance on GPL themes, and WP.com not? How is such disparity not hypocritical?

(All that, for the sake of argument. Does WP.com actually claim that either it uses non-GPL themes, or else that it doesn't *have* to?)

[chipbennett]

Could you then explain why I cannot access the style sheet of my WordPress.com blog without paying a fee? Its using a GPL theme and I am restricted from accessing its style sheet and saving my changes.

Well-played.

[Ryan]

@brad - still wondering what you meant by restricting access to the themes stylesheet.

[greenshady]

Could you then explain why I cannot access the style sheet of my WordPress.com blog without paying a fee? Its using a GPL theme and I am restricted from accessing its style sheet and saving my changes.

WordPress.com is a service built on top of the WordPress software. The GPL is about distribution of software. The theme isn't distributed to you when you have a WP.com blog. Even if they did distribute the theme to you, they could still charge a fee. "Free" in terms of the GPL does not mean no money.

themes which have been developed for WordPress.com are not GPL compliant because of distribution, there is none. The themes are custom made for WordPress.com only.

You can get any of these themes you want and not be on WordPress.com.
http://svn.automattic.com/wpcom-themes

[Brad]

Hi Ryan,

Rather than repeat it all here, check out the chat dialogue. We discussed at length there.

@brad - still wondering what you meant by restricting access to the themes stylesheet.

[Brad]

I think that became clearer to me tonight in the chat room but I came away from the discussion with an opinion that they shouldn't cripple a theme (can't save changes to style sheet unless you pay) and should always ad value rather than restrict what would normally be available in a GPL theme. Its just my opinion, what do I know. Thanks for the theme link.

WordPress.com is a service built on top of the WordPress software. The GPL is about distribution of software. The theme isn't distributed to you when you have a WP.com blog. Even if they did distribute the theme to you, they could still charge a fee. "Free" in terms of the GPL does not mean no money.



You can get any of these themes you want and not be on WordPress.com.
http://svn.automattic.com/wpcom-themes

[Ryan]

Why would WordPress.com want to allow users to modify the CSS for free? They make money by charging for it. They certainly don't have any reason to as it is all run on their own server/s.

[andrea_r]

themes which have been developed for WordPress.com are not GPL compliant because of distribution, there is none. The themes are custom made for WordPress.com only.

Sure there is. You just have to know where they are.
WP.com themes

And almost all are freely available themes elsewhere. All they've added is wp.com specific tweaks. (localization, rtl support etc...)

The issue with being able to *edit* the themes has little to do with the GPL. On a WPMU system *nobody* can edit themes - not even the site admin. The theme editor is disabled for security and useablity reasons. There's one copy of each theme, and users who select a particular theme all share it. So if an edit is made to the particular theme files, it affects everyone using those themes.

So. wp.com came up with the css editor and rightly charges for its use.

[chipbennett]

The issue with being able to *edit* the themes has little to do with the GPL. On a WPMU system *nobody* can edit themes - not even the site admin. The theme editor is disabled for security and useablity reasons. There's one copy of each theme, and users who select a particular theme all share it. So if an edit is made to the particular theme files, it affects everyone using those themes.

So. wp.com came up with the css editor and rightly charges for its use.

But for the sake of argument, wouldn't said CSS editor be a derivative work of WP, and therefore subject to the GPL?

For the sake of further argument, shouldn't WP.com be giving away (use of) all such derivative works for free, and only charging for support - since that is the de facto expectation of premium theme developers?