Posted by emptyvoid on June 17, 2013 at 10:49pm
I was researching LCMS (learning content management systems) or LMS platforms built to integrate or run on the Drupal platform. So far the most polished platform I've found was the SaaS (software as a service) product offered by schoology.
Now I'm not a lawyer but if schoology is built upon or in part using the Drupal platform is it not required to provide said code to anyone who asks under the GPL license?
Someone chime in and agree or set me straight on this subject.
Thanks,
Comments
Licensing FAQ, Legal group
This isn't a great place to be discussing legal issues.
See: https://drupal.org/licensing/faq/#q8
Also: https://drupal.org/licensing/faq/#q16
No, they don't
I'm not a lawyer either however my understanding is that they have to offer the source code uncompiled if they distribute the code. Like if they put it on a cd or offered to sell the website software. There is nothing forcing them to release their configuration or any custom modules they wrote as the owner retains the intellectual property rights but gives the community a GPL license to use the software if the software is contributed to drupal.org
Now there has been a long running debate over whether contrib counts as derivative works. You can follow the commentary on the previous nodes linked.
The question is why does this matter?
SaaS solutions do not require
SaaS solutions do not require this. You aren't paying for the code, you are paying for the service. This is why Drupal Gardens can exist without giving you all the magic that helps build Drupal Gardens. Schoology was built off Drupal in the past (to my recollection) though I'm not sure how active they ever were w/ the larger drupal community.
Now, if Schoology said "pay us 100k for a Drupal site" and they built you a Drupal site, they are effectively selling you the code and database. In this scenario they need to provide you access to the code if requested. It's a subtle difference but I think that's how it works.
This is my understanding of how it works though I could be wrong.
Ex Uno Plures
http://elmsln.org/
http://btopro.com/
http://drupal.psu.edu/
Schoology is built on drupal.
Schoology is built on drupal. I was just signing up for an account on it for my child's school and could tell right away.
They have done some interesting things that I am curious about how they did them.