(2021-03-11, 04:10 AM)dragonexpert Wrote: [ -> ]I've used MyBB for a long time as well and written a fair share of plugins for it. The main reason I haven't really contributed anything to the main repository in a long time is a combination of two main factors. One factor is having the time to do so. I work full time and go to college so my free time is more limited. At this point I'd rather create plugins due to having a lot more freedom on coding.
The other major factor is the codebase itself is just so outdated. Part of this is due to what the Team is having be the supported PHP version. The code is still written for the PHP 5 series. That has been dead for a long time. I remember back when that used to be a problem for certain plugins, but that hardly seems to be an issue compared to before. PHP 7 has typed arguments which MyBB could definitely be using to get rid of a lot of sanity checks. With how behind the codebase is, I'd honestly rather build from scratch a forum software that is written for PHP 7 and doesn't contain errors in PHP 8 for those who like to use the most up to date version.
MyBB 1.8 brach is stable... we can add any plugin or theme.
I agree with you - we should not support outdated not secure php versions... it is quite easy to do, just announce it 3-6 months before the EOL support and release a minor version of mybb and say - ok, now we support 5.6 or 7.0 php. It is really risky (security etc) to support these old versions...
(2021-03-11, 03:21 PM)Furious Wrote: [ -> ] (2021-03-10, 05:06 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]Quote:I do think alerts is an important feature too and currently there is no up to date and supported alert system for MyBB but I don't think that would be too hard for you to implement considering you already have a very good working system on your forum that you could just implement into MyBB out of the box.
Something like that would work well as a paid add-on. There is actually more to do for web socket alerts. Systems like MyAlerts are not efficient and it doesn't send a Push Notification. To do that you must use Web Sockets and run that on the server or use a 3rd party service. In any case that's a more complicated matter.
But it's stuff like that suggestion which has prevented the MyBB team from the focus of mission #1 and that's a responsive theme.
I have considered a fork but I'd rather buy the actual MyBB brand. What I don't want to do is split this already small community. Even if we don't always agree at least we are in this together.
If it is made a paid add on then so be it as long as it is not a ridiculous price to where nobody will buy it because you still will have to remember the roots of MyBB as a free software, but keep in mind there would need to be some kind of verification system put into place for support of plugins because what is going to end up happening is someone will buy and put it on a leak kind of forum for free.
But at this point I believe it is already in the 1.9 build and if they can get 1.9 out anytime soon I am willing to give it a try.
Yes MyBB only needs a responsive theme and then updates over time to modernize it, but if 1.9 is almost finished I guess they might as well just get it done but if it doesn't get done anytime soon then that is a different story.
Actually something like a full Push Notification system can probably be an add-on for free but paid install and support. Those are the type of monetization ideas that many projects offer. That helps counter the warez because the code is free anyways. But because of complexity some forum admins might choose to pay $50 or $100 to have a professional set it up.
So many ways you can earn money from a project but still offer it for free. Just look at Wordpress and their amazing ecosystem.
What does it take to fork an open-source project with a compatible license ? Interest to do so. I will be happy to use that MyBB fork with all those bells and whistles.
MyBB should remain open source and free...
(2021-03-12, 12:44 PM)meetdilip Wrote: [ -> ]What does it take to fork an open-source project with a compatible license ? Interest to do so. I will be happy to use that MyBB fork with all those bells and whistles.
Anybody can fork MyBB. You would not be able to call it MyBB still, or use any of its assets like its logo and images. The license of the fork can be anything from free to paid.
I am sad that people who complain about 1.9 not available are also on the same path as the dev team. There is nothing but complaining ( they are in their right to ), but no community process to fix the issue. Nobody jumped in to create funds to hire developers and contribute code, with or without the MyBB banner, nobody raised funds or paid for a responsive theme that is available to all.
(2021-03-12, 07:14 PM)meetdilip Wrote: [ -> ]... nobody raised funds or paid for a responsive theme that is available to all.
Not true.
Ideas were put forward by the community. money also offered.
Even now the team has the option of building a theme for the 1.8 series, it was always the option of least amount of work, while development into a new iteration was being done.
Just adopt Bootstrap for the 1.8 series and build a theme. Bootstrap is a quality product, and will make the users happy.
(2021-03-08, 03:58 PM)Matt Wrote: [ -> ]And a fork still doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the same energy could be put into the current version, and if there aren't the funds to work on it full time, you'll still be doing it around a full time job anyway, so that problem doesn't go anywhere.
There's the key point...
When someone forks software such as MyBB, they are making it theirs.
It's their responsibility to keep it up, keep it alive, bring motivation to get admins to use it and on and on and on.
The onus falls on that person to keep it going, if not... it will die.
It's that simple, yet a scary step for any coder/programmer to take and be dedicated to it in the long term.
Let's take a look at Iabrocca's offer.
He, out of all the posters, is more than likely willing to fork MyBB and make it his own product.
Dang, he can sell it from his forum for a price that would be far less than a lot of commercial forum products, but at least he is getting money into the MyBB fork project and have the motivation to continue the project as long he sees the income coming in.
So... Iabrocca... if you're reading this... go for it. Go for the fork. Just do it... stop talking/posting about it.
I mentioned the pricing at my post →
HERE
(2021-03-13, 12:19 PM)Serpius Wrote: [ -> ]I mentioned the pricing at my post → HERE
There's a very big problem with this idea though, Serpius. Everybody who has contributed code to MyBB has done so on the understanding that it is licensed under the LGPL. If you wanted to relicence all of that code under a proprietary licence, by which you could legally prevent people from freely sharing the code around as under the LGPL and force them to pay for it, then you would need to get the consent of everybody who has contributed to it to also release their contributions under a proprietary licence (so that they were dual-licensed - you can't take back the existing licensing under the LGPL).
It's more problematic than that though: given that the existing codebase has already been released under the LGPL, you couldn't stop people from freely sharing that existing codebase without paying for it even if you
did get preexisting contributors to dual-license their code. Payment could only be forced for new contributions of code which were
not dual-licenced under both the LGPL and a proprietary licence; that is, for those contributions of code made solely under the new proprietary licence.
So, I really don't see a path to a proprietary, commercial version of MyBB. Firstly, the task of getting every contributor to relicense (dual-license) their code commercially is effectively impossible. Secondly, you couldn't stop folks from freely sharing (and probably forking) the codebase that existed prior to the new additions of solely commercially-licensed additional code, and unless you got all of the core development team on board, there probably
would be a fork intended to keep the software free.
(2021-03-13, 12:56 PM)Laird Wrote: [ -> ] (2021-03-13, 12:19 PM)Serpius Wrote: [ -> ]I mentioned the pricing at my post → HERE
There's a very big problem with this idea though, Serpius. Everybody who has contributed code to MyBB has done so on the understanding that it is licensed under the LGPL. If you wanted to relicence all of that code under a proprietary licence, by which you could legally prevent people from freely sharing the code around as under the LGPL and force them to pay for it, then you would need to get the consent of everybody who has contributed to it to also release their contributions under a proprietary licence (so that they were dual-licensed - you can't take back the existing licensing under the LGPL).
It's more problematic than that though: given that the existing codebase has already been released under the LGPL, you couldn't stop people from freely sharing that existing codebase without paying for it even if you did get preexisting contributors to dual-license their code. Payment could only be forced for new contributions of code which were not dual-licenced under both the LGPL and a proprietary licence; that is, for those contributions of code made solely under the new proprietary licence.
So, I really don't see a path to a proprietary, commercial version of MyBB. Firstly, the task of getting every contributor to relicense (dual-license) their code commercially is effectively impossible. Secondly, you couldn't stop folks from freely sharing (and probably forking) the codebase that existed prior to the new additions of solely commercially-licensed additional code, and unless you got all of the core development team on board, there probably would be a fork intended to keep the software free.
Again, as I stated in my post if Iabrocca wants to fork MyBB, let him do it. Instead of giving money to MyBB, he should keep that money as seed money to get the MyBB fork going and promote it through his website and other online sources.
There is no one stopping him or anyone else from doing it.
I took a quick look at the staff and some of the Last Visit dates, many of them are Hidden, but 1 of them have not been seen in over a year, 2 of them not seen since August 2020. That's a bit concerning to me. Lack of participation and motivation from those 3.
Who knows how many more there are that have not been seen since mid-2020?
That doesn't bode very well for the progress of MyBB in the future.
That's almost an "invitation" to anyone to fork MyBB due to lack of participation in the MyBB team (if it can be labeled as such).
Just my measly 2 cents...