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  • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 10:18 pm on May 1, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    Font Awesome is permitted in the Plugin Repository 

    This took longer than we would have liked to say, but there were communication issues on multiple fronts.

    You can use the Font Awesome font files and CSS in your code, per the current Font Awesome License:

    As far as crediting is concerned, we feel attribution is always good. You should always put that in your source code, but your readme is optional. Credit links must be opt-in if they show on the front facing part of your site (this includes the login page), but that’s nothing new.

    So with that said, we’re going through the plugins that had been closed for Font Awesome usage and opening them. If we missed yours, please email us at plugins at wordpress.org, with a link to the plugin (like http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/font-awesome/ which is open) and we’ll check right away.

     

  • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 6:45 pm on April 22, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Plugins to embed audio/video or use HTML, please read 

    If you have a plugin with the sole purpose of embedding video into WP posts, or one that makes HTML5 work in WP, you need to know that there is HTML5 support for Audio and Video coming in WordPress 3.6, so please test ASAP.

    Read Audio/Video Support in Core

     

  • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 1:51 am on April 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , api   

    Google Maps JavaScript v2 API To Be Removed 

    If you’re using the Google Maps JavaScript API v2 (and 78 of you are), your plugins will break on May 19th. This means we’ll not be accepting any plugins that use the old code (and probably will close your plugins that do if you don’t fix ‘em).

    From Google, Google Maps JavaScript v2 (Deprecated)

    The Google Maps JavaScript API Version 2 has been officially deprecated as of May 19, 2010. The V2 API will continue to work until May 19, 2013. We encourage you to migrate your code to version 3 of the Maps JavaScript API.

    The Google Maps API lets you embed Google Maps in your own web pages with JavaScript. The API provides a number of utilities for manipulating maps (just like on the http://maps.google.com web page) and adding content to the map through a variety of services, allowing you to create robust maps applications on your website.

    The Maps API is a free service, available for any web site that is free to consumers. Please see the terms of use for more information.

    To use the Maps API on an intranet or in a non-publicly accessible application, please check out Google Maps API for Business.

    So please update your plugins.

    (Props to Kailey Lampert for this post)

     

  • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 4:17 am on February 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: twitter   

    Do You Write Twitter Plugins? 

    Version 1.0 of their API is going away very soon, so if you happen to be using that, your plugin will break.

    You should keep up with Twitter’s Calendar and update your plugins to the latest versions of the API as soon as possible to prevent angry users and broken plugins.

     

    • Ben Lobaugh 4:20 am on February 7, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for the updates Ipstenu! Blasting out to my followers and the WordPress Seattle community!

    • whiletrue 11:13 am on February 19, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Hi all, we released today a quick update for the “Really Simple Twitter Feed Widget”, requiring users to create their own Twitter Application. It’s online and working with full 1.1 API support. Our two other Twitter based plugins will be updated soon.

      We’re also working on a simpler way for authenticate users, providing a custom Twitter Application and the 3-legged authorization method. What are you doing about it?

    • Workshopshed 3:17 pm on February 20, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      I abandoned development on my twitter badge plugin because of these changes, it used client side javascript and hence can’t be made to work without significant changes. I’m currently using Twitter’s own widget but I’m not entirely happy with it. The Really Simple Twitter Feed Widget, seems like it should work for me.

    • Aaron D. Campbell 4:52 pm on March 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Just under the wire, but I did get the release out! The new Twitter Widget Pro (2.5.0+) uses the new API – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-widget-pro/

    • JumboClicks 6:26 am on April 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Don’t you love chasing API changes .. if its not twitter its amazon .. oh its just working perfectly now and it almost looks nice too… wait api change .. OH JUST COME ON .. heh

  • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 5:31 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: gpl,   

    GPL and the Repository 

    All plugins hosted in the WordPress.org repository must be compatible with GPLv2 or later. That means all code that is on our servers, from images to CSS to JS to the PHP code, has to meet that requirement. This is an extra requirement than just the standard one of derivative code, but we strongly feel that proprietary content has no need to be in our repository. If your code needs to be split licensed, or you have to included proprietary code for any reason, we can’t host you on .org, but that has no bearing on how neat and cool your code might be.

    For a list of various licenses, and their compatibility with GPLv2 please read this: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html – We know not all of you are lawyers, and thankfully that list makes it easy to check what licenses do and don’t mesh. If something doesn’t have a license, ask the author please, and don’t assume.

    The following code bases are popular (which is to say we see submissions with them pretty regularly), but at the time of this post, are not licensed GPL-compatible. None of this means you can’t or shouldn’t use this code on your sites or plugins, just that we can’t host it here if you do.

    If there are plugins you find using these (or any non-GPL-Compatible) code bases in their plugin, please email plugins AT wordpress.org and we’ll get in touch with the developer. If you’re the author of one of those code bases, please consider re-releasing your code under a GPLv2 Compatible license! We’d love to be able to host your work here.

     

    • Mike Schinkel 5:44 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Great points @ipstenu.

      It would be helpful if you could explicitly clarify something though. In some cases the required functionality is really only available via commercially licensed software; I’m working on just such a plugin right now. I assume that it’s acceptable to publish a GPLv2+ licensed plugin that requires the commercially licensed software as a library but that puts the onus on the user to acquire a copy of said commercially licensed software? Thanks in advance.

      -Mike

      • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 6:17 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Mike – That’s a real sticky situation, and we try to judge each one individually. If the entire purpose of the plugin requires you to download non GPL software, we probably won’t approve it. But if some additional functionality requires it (like Viper’s Video Quicktags says you have to download FLV if you want to use that), it’s okay.

        • Mike Schinkel 8:04 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

          Really? Not what I expected to hear.

          I have an Export Post Content to MS Word plugin I’m working on for a client and it requires PHPDOCX and I have been thinking it would be nice to package it up and put in the plugin repository for those who need MS Word export.

          P.S. Of course I guess I could limit the functionality significantly and bundle their LGPLversion but that’s take recoding work and I might not get to it anytime soon.

          • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 8:20 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

            I did say probably. It’s a lot of case-by-case, but we’re trying to avoid situations where you download plugins that outright don’t work, because you have to install other stuff. (Obvious exceptions would be bridge software, that connects WP to other apps.)

            • Jane Wells 1:27 pm on December 24, 2012 Permalink

              we’re trying to avoid situations where you download plugins that outright don’t work

              +1

          • imranpak 1:50 pm on March 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply

            Hello Mike,

            Please share that plugin with me.

            Thanks,

            Imran

    • Charleston Software Associates 5:46 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      jQuery Lightbox? There are a ton of plugins I’ve used for client sites that include that script.

      Does this mean if a plugin sources the script from another source, like Google Code for example, it still is not GPL compliant? For example, the files bundled with the plugin do not contain the actual jQuery Lightbox code but simply a for example?

      I don’t think any of my plugins are doing this but good to know what the nuances are. Especially since I’m planning a WordPress driven streaming radio plugin + companion client plugin and considered some of the very items you have on this list!

      • Charleston Software Associates 5:48 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Keep forgetting my code block on comments!

        • but simply use an a href = “..otherURL/jqlightbox.js” for example

      • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 6:19 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Read the URL we linked to. Says pretty clearly

        “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Brazil License.”

        That’s not compatible. However remember this rule is only to be hosted on .org. We’re not talking about using for clients, just in plugins we host for you :) Does that make sense?

        Edit: As long as the code ins’t included in the plugin we have on .org, it’s okay. We do discourage telling people to download it from external sources (see Mike’s comment above you), but we take them case-by-case.

        • Charleston Software Associates 7:11 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

          @Ipsentnu – Thanks Mika, I get it. I meant that I’m using plugins found on the .org directory that contain jQuery Lightbox scripts IN the trunk svn repo hosted on the .org site. Many of those (see related comments) are carrying along scripts that specifically cite licenses that are NOT GPLv2 compatible, like the jQuery Lightbox script you reference in the original post.

          Now that those client sites are deployed I’m not so interested in that SPECIFIC issue. However my media streaming system will require pieces that are not readily available in GPLv2 format. I guess, based on your response to Mike, that I’ll have to find a way to marginalize those pieces and keep them out of the repo.

          Is it OK to say “if you want to use feature X” you will need to download “Y”? In my case I’d need a creative way to get the FLV player installed for the client listener. Thinking out loud here… Maybe hooks + filters that look for a “ride along” plugin that simply extends the feature set with “FLV fallback for non-HTML5 browsers”.

          Sorry for all the posts. I’m working on a big project and was planning on using WordPress as a key piece for the backend & front-end UI elements. Fully understanding this is kind of important before development starts in earnest next month.

          • Lance

          • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:41 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

            The answer is ‘maybe.’

            If the entire use of your plugin hinges on non GPL code, then probably not. If it’s just an extra feature, then probably yes.

            And like I said, if you see plugins in the .org repo that are using those specific versions of the code (check the links, lots of people use the same names), then please email us :)

      • Charleston Software Associates 6:53 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Lets try some examples just so I am really clear on this. I’d hate to put a lot of time into a plugin and have it not listed here after months of work because of a license conflict.

        This plugin (a fairly popular one) has a modified port of jQuery Lightbox:
        http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-jquery-lightbox/

        The modified port is itself questionable because it does not retain the original license but instead says “BSD license for details refer to license.txt” (license.txt is missing, BTW which is ANOTHER subtle but important point about software licenses, I’ll leave that discussion for later). The Gnu link provided makes it sound like Original BSD is NOT compatible with GPL only “Modified BSD” or “3-Clause BSD” is compatible.

        This can/will get confusing in a hurry. Maybe WordPress should host a list of known licenses that will not be accepted and post it somewhere near the plugin authors/submission page. The Gnu list is a great start but could be made easier to follow for non-legalish people like myself.

        • Lance

        • Samuel Wood (Otto) 7:11 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

          There is more than one project named “jQuery Lightbox”, because “Lightbox” itself was quite popular and spawned more than one imitator. Some of these imitators are compatible, some are not. The one you linked to is compatible. The one Mika linked to is not.

          Regarding “BSD”: nobody uses the “original BSD” license, pretty much ever. When somebody says “BSD-licensed”, it’s an almost 100% certain bet that they are referring to the modified BSD license. I have *never* seen a use of the original BSD license, ever.

          WordPress has no plans to make any sort of list of which licenses are acceptable or not, because we don’t have to. That list on gnu.org is fairly extensive and covers the vast majority of licenses out there. Any others we can evaluate on a case by case basis.

      • Charleston Software Associates 7:00 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

        Here is another one… as noted, this gets confusing in a hurry…

        http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/jquery-lightbox-balupton-edition/

        This plugin clearly cites AGPL version 3.
        http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/jquery-lightbox-balupton-edition/trunk/scripts/jquery.lightbox.js#L28

        AGPL v3 *is* GPL compatible, but here is the catch, it is specifically NOT GPLv2 compatible, thus the entire plugin is considering “not GPLv2″ compatible.
        http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#AGPLv3.0

        Am I understanding this correctly?

        • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:45 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

          Do me a huge favor. Take a deep breath :) You sound like you’re panicking here, and there’s no need to. We’re not making cancer fighting tools here, just code. All this can be fixed and sorted out, if we all stay calm and take our time.

          AGPL is messy. We’ll have to look into that one closely. I don’t have an answer for you right now.

          And note: GPLv2 or later. GPLv3 is okay.

          Edit: Actually he can just upgrade to the MIT version of the code – https://github.com/balupton/jquery-lightbox – I’ll email him.

          • Charleston Software Associates 8:36 pm on December 20, 2012 Permalink | Reply

            Thanks Mika. Not panicked, just trying to get clarification with some examples for reference.

            Another company I worked with had plugin listings pulled from .org for non-compliance. Related premium add-on sales went from $250/day to $0 instantaneously. Before I put months of effort into my new project I want to make sure I do all I can to maintain a good relationship with .org.

            It is 100% clear now. There may be some gray area that will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In over-simplified terms, don’t use the directory as a “free advert” for non-GPLv2 stuff.

    • toscho 2:47 am on December 21, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Please close the last link. :)

    • Fabien 11:44 am on December 21, 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Many thanks to you for what you are doing for the free software community ! Long live the GPL !

    • takien 4:02 pm on February 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Hello, I’m writing ClipArt plugin (submitted to .org and currently being reviewed).

      What plugin does:

      • Search clipart images from openclipart.org, (Images is licensed as Creative Common).
      • Save image into user’s WordPress, and insert into post if they wish.

      Will this cause a problem? While images are not hosted here (wordpress.org).

      Thank you.

      • Ipstenu (Mika Epstein) 7:56 pm on February 8, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        The images are different.

        We care if the code and images in the plugin itself are GPL compatible. If the stuff you install to your site later via image uploads isn’t, well that’s on you :) That should be fine. (FYI, we’re backlogged on reviews by a couple days)

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