OpenCart Marketplace > GNU/GPL License

JNeuhoff wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:49 pm

But the moment any extension is using the core OpenCart with something like

Code: Select all

class ControllerExtensionModuleMyModule extends Controller

it use the core and core functions (hence the function "extends").
Without this core functions (and other) this extension would never work.

Just curious: Do you have any links which explains the exact nature of allowed combining of GPL and non-GPL software?
I read this: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en ... dInterface

To be honest: currently not.
I am not a Lawyer, but have to do with such since more than 20 years.

If you read the text you mentioned above, I would say the most important part is this sentence:

Linking ABC statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on ABC. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination.

In our case with OpenCart (which is GNU/GPL v.3) this means, any extension has to be also the same license.
Which does not prevent to use libraries of other licenses.
What comes then in mind, the developer has to check if the license of the used program/code is compatible (which will answer your question also), read: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html

OSWorX wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:03 pm

Correct.
But here, we have to make a difference.
Libraries stored inside the vendor folder, may have any license (but here, also if this license allows to call/embedd the library).
But the moment any extension is using the core OpenCart with something like

Code: Select all

class ControllerExtensionModuleMyModule extends Controller

it use the core and core functions (hence the function "extends").
Without this core functions (and other) this extension would never work.
So it depends on it and needs it.
Which leads us to the main question: what kind of license is OpenCart using?
Therefore the extension must be of the same or lesser.

So maybe it is OpenCart which uses Extension? And not Extension which uses OpenCart Just a joke

But still I believe it is mostly a matter of customer-developer relations and their business to decide, to use license check, how to check, encode or not.
Not forum users or even Marketplace support.
Duty of Marketplace support is only to monitor and exclude obvious malware. Forum users and customers can help them in this with their reports.
Thanks to PHP/HTML/JS/AJAX architecture it is not much difficult even for obfuscated code.

I agree that customer must understand risks and be able to weigh the pros and cons before purchase. And understand what he is doing.
That is why I propose to add additional attributes to marketplace extensions. If customer does not want to purchase such extensions he can simply filter them out and even not see them.

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:12 am

I agree that customer must understand risks and be able to weigh the pros and cons before purchase. And understand what he is doing.
That is why I propose to add additional attributes to marketplace extensions. If customer does not want to purchase such extensions he can simply filter them out and even not see them.

Maybe we should create a thread about that and inform Daniel what developers want/should to be added to the MarketPlace rules/conditions.
Finally it will be a win-win situation for all.

Now we are going into a "constructive" direction.

p.s.: the MarketPlace miss many functions and informations.

OSWorX wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:54 am

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:12 am

I agree that customer must understand risks and be able to weigh the pros and cons before purchase. And understand what he is doing.
That is why I propose to add additional attributes to marketplace extensions. If customer does not want to purchase such extensions he can simply filter them out and even not see them.

Maybe we should create a thread about that and inform Daniel what developers want/should to be added to the MarketPlace rules/conditions.
Finally it will be a win-win situation for all.

Now we are going into a "constructive" direction.

p.s.: the MarketPlace miss many functions and informations.

We can create a thread. But I doubt this will be ever implemented.
Marketplace cannot even fix known and reported bugs for many years.

And such thread with wishes already exists.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=183869

That's the problem of OpenCart community. You say we must be more active. Ok.
But all activity is usually crashed against the wall of ignorance from Daniel and Marketplace. All this leads to indifference of developers.
First they bring some good ideas and afterwords just stay here to earn money, if stay, because nothing else can be done.

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:54 pm

And such thread with wishes already exists.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=183869

Forgot that completely - you're right.

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:54 pm

That's the problem of OpenCart community. You say we must be more active. Ok.
But all activity is usually crashed against the wall of ignorance from Daniel and Marketplace. All this leads to indifference of developers.
First they bring some good ideas and afterwords just stay here to earn money, if stay, because nothing else can be done.

Forum and MarketPlace are not the same (while they are related in some ways).
Participating in the forum means helping others .. and getting eventually (potential) new customers.

OSWorX wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:39 pm

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:32 pm

Don't know from where you are

Judging from the below,

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:32 pm

Every developer needs to feed his family. If he doesn't - his wife will prohibit him selling on OpenCart Marketplace and will require him to find a better job

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:32 pm

Just return to the ground. ("вернись на землю")

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:26 pm

Out of internet this is known as raider seizure of property.

…sounds like Russia, or an ex-soviet country.

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:26 pm

So literally, Marketplace have killed my small business once my extensions have became popular, and it will take months to renew my sales.

No worries man. You are the one who has something to offer. You found a problem and took an entrepreneurial risk in solving it. Use this as a lesson to quit Opencart and invest your talent elsewhere. Opencart is a sinking ship anyway.

(How about taking this to the extreme and using it as an idea to help shop owners who aren't happy with Opencart to migrate away from it?)

dbdropper wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:24 pm

Judging from the below,
…sounds like Russia, or an ex-soviet country.

No worries man. You are the one who has something to offer. You found a problem and took an entrepreneurial risk in solving it. Use this as a lesson to quit Opencart and invest your talent elsewhere. Opencart is a sinking ship anyway.

(How about taking this to the extreme and using it as an idea to help shop owners who aren't happy with Opencart to migrate away from it?)

Good job, Sherlock

I am located in Ukraine, I don't hide this.

If Daniel and Marketplace support proceed this way, OpenCart will sink even faster.
Nobody will invest their time in this platform.

Without developers and comfortable, functional extensions any system is nothing.
Not without customers. But without developers.
Because customers, before starting their business, first analyze a market for how easy it is to find a reliable developer for each platform.
And OpenCart has established itself as a cheap platform, but full of unreliable freelancers.

So it is both uninteresting for new developers (because cheap) and new customers (lack of steady responsible developers with good experience).

For example, in my country, there is no job for OpenCart developers. For every hundred of jobs for Shopify and Magento there is only one with OpenCart requirement. 5-6 years ago there were lots of jobs where OpenCart was required. This is a dead end.

If Daniel does not change his strategy and does not target OpenCart for developers comfort he will lose all the rest.

We can discuss GNU/GPL forever. But both customers and developers don't need this.

dbdropper wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:24 pm

OSWorX wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 6:39 pm

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:32 pm

Don't know from where you are

...

clicker.extensions wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:26 pm

So literally, Marketplace have killed my small business once my extensions have became popular, and it will take months to renew my sales.

No worries man. You are the one who has something to offer. You found a problem and took an entrepreneurial risk in solving it. Use this as a lesson to quit Opencart and invest your talent elsewhere. Opencart is a sinking ship anyway.

(How about taking this to the extreme and using it as an idea to help shop owners who aren't happy with Opencart to migrate away from it?)

Magento isn't doing any better on the Google Trends: another sinking ship?

And Shopify isn't exactly exploding in interest: Barely surfacing?

So, I'll stick with OC for the foreseeable future and work to make it better where I can.

I'm not a developer, but would if I had the spare time, mostly I'm trying to get my online store running better for my customers and OC does a good job by and large.

<off thread topic rant> The biggest problem I have is the checkout experience and shipping. I was using a great shipping extension made by drugoe.de but they seem to have vanished into thin air. Their extension is still available to buy on both OC marketplace and their web site, but they stopped responding to emails/support requests in November 2020 for everyone as far as I can tell. So now I have to do the tweaks myself. At least now that I know it is all covered under Gnu I don't need to feel guilty, but I would so much rather prefer that the original developers would surface and resume operations! </off thread topic rant>

jrr wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 16, 2021 3:02 am

Magento isn't doing any better on the Google Trends:another sinking ship?

And Shopify isn't exactly exploding in interest: Barely surfacing?

These three trends need to be plotted on the same chart together for you to really see the difference: https://trends.google.com/trends/explor ... rt,magento. So no, Shopify isn't barely surfacing.