156

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« on: July 10, 2007, 02:38 PM »

i didn't say that because i realise it's impractical - but if i could wave a magic wand i would make it so.

I didnt study smf licensing terms seriously before, coz mouser's such a fan of SMF forum and I don't run any forum myself, now it seems to me that SMF is actually copyrighted, pretty closed-source forum software.

Read their licensing terms here: http://www.simplemachines.org/about/license.php

Among the terms read:

Any Distribution of this Package, whether as a Modified Package or not, requires express written consent from Simple Machines LLC.

I'm not the mind reader of SMF but the terms mainly impress "copyright + development control" on me, for some reason.

1. SMF controls distribution

2. Therefore controls development (see #1), which makes it hard for independent mod writers to write customizations that affect lots of components because SMF sets the framework. Now they are basically writing addons for existing SMF base.

3. "change the terms of this Agreement at any time" allows the company to do whatever they want - at any time. With proper tech, it could turn into a for-profit entity anytime. (as far as I know PHP encryption is already there, and it's not uncommon for developers to charge users monthly subscription fees)

Note that we don't have copyleft source code, but copyright source code. Just because SMF allows us to use their forum software for free doesn't mean we own the code and do whatever we want.

I haven't discussed this with mouser yet but it is somehow not that assuring to put so much community contribution on copyrighted software (forum software) with somewhat restrictive licensing terms.

Perhaps the more our site functions are integrated with SMF, the less options we'll have. So far it should be not v hard to convert our forum to phpbb (open source) and there are already converters for this.

As we are getting bigger (which of course we are), the merely difficult may evolving into something impractical to do, just as you said nudone.

So I'm saying it pays to study smf alternatives like phpbb3 (I'll try) and design our site components to be less reliant on SMF forum software.

Even thou SMF is v unlikely to make any drastic move in the short term, its (possible) gradual change of policy in the long term may make us suffer. Let's hope we won't get too big and complicated to migrate our system then.

157

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« on: July 10, 2007, 12:24 PM »

As u know mouser has just removed all of his mods on official smf site in protest and I just took my search mod offline in support.

Mouser's been complaining about smf search on SMF forum for over a year, elaborating on detailed cases where smf search fails (and it still does). A few really great guys at SMF posted improved scripts for mouser and our forum -- nevertheless as I read his posts I believe his requests went mostly unheeded.

When mouser asked me to work on this mod back a week ago, he told me in excitement that many SMF forum users will be benefited from my mod if it's a success and we'll be able to contribute "big time" to SMF community.

And as soon as the mod was released, mouser posted on SMF forum to tell ppl there that our improved search mod was available for download.

It's just unacceptable for an SMF official to say, without a "thank you", but:

"If we don't see this fixed by Friday, we will be forced to escalate the issue (and we really don't want to have to do it, it is a waste of time for everyone)."

I'm not saying the SMF person was technically wrong on this, s/he pointed out my license violation and did her/his job -- technically no question about that.

It's still upsetting me that whilst all of our released mod are about open-source, share, community contribution, someone (maybe more ppl) in SMF are thinking the corporation way, the litigation way -- right off their mind!

I don't think mouser and I ever developed mods for profits (not even donations), personal fame, etc. We want our users to enjoy our product as easy as possible, to make life easier for them, since web stuff isn't really simple -- often you f*ck up things without even knowing what went wrong.

it would be a pity to deny the larger community of SMF users the chance to benefit from the good work that's just been completed here.

Exactly. SMF Community is simply great (SO FAR). Some gurus there were really helpful to me sorting out my tricky installer problems and I really appreciate it.

We don't want SMF to lapse into a corporation run by corporate-minded ppl -- from a pro-open-source community where ppl care, develop and share. That's why we protest for a change to their licensing policy. :)


Anyways, I'll still be improving SMF search (currently just for DC), so don't hide bugs from me!!  ;D

158

Living Room / Re: For DC Fans: Bring DC Forum to your Desktop for searching/browsing/etc.

« on: July 10, 2007, 08:53 AM »

Thanks for all your support! Don't even assume I've forgotten about this thread!  ;)


Updated: 9 July 2007.

Download: http://www.mrmouser.com/crawl/DCForumCrawl070907.rar

77.3MB RAR package containing 8,778 individual html files.


Sure I'd be using it to test our new forum search. 8)

159

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« on: July 10, 2007, 08:29 AM »

i confess i don't really understand what this problem implies - does it mean DC is allowed to use wordy's brilliant search mod or not?

No worries nudone, nobody was trying to stop us from using our own modified script.  :)

Simply put it was because I included the ultimate modified script in my package so that ppl could just copy/replace to upgrade their search script, without going through the smf mod installer (a forum component).

SMF ppl claimed that the distribution of this directly replacement for their original script was "redistribution without written permission" and was again their licensing terms.

I only included the direct replacement script in the package because it was not possible for users to uninstall my package and as such it'd make it difficult for them to upgrade their search script next time. Now what could get easier than direct copy/replace?

Anyways, I've been working for 5 hrs to finally get a working uninstallable package out. SMF installer is hard to play with, sometimes it works, sometimes it just doesn't -- for no apparent reason.

160

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« on: July 10, 2007, 02:18 AM »

The reason I took extra step to include the standalone modified search.php was:

For some unknown reason, the original package will NOT uninstall (even thou it installs without a damn problem) in SMF package manager. As such if the user continues with the uninstallation process, his search.php will be ruined.

And what make it even worse, he cannot reinstall the package right away to fix search.php -- now he has to:

1. Delete the original package
2. Download updated package
3. Restore original search.php from official smf installation
4. Install updated package

Do we hate supporters of our mod? What exactly is the point of troubling them with all these extra time-wasting steps?

If they have the already modified standalone search.php in the mod, applying/upgrading DC search to their own SMF forum couldnt be easier -- Copy + Replace, that's it!