All ideas are GREAT... but speaking of punbb.org, why don't we have google ads in here? I would love to click those for the sake of the good men of punbb so they can buy more beers. I hope to see some in the future.

There used to be Google ads here, but they were removed. My understanding is that their annoyance did not warrant the meager profits they yielded.

i must say this addon is impressive
too bad it costs money

hmm maybe i should teach myself php to make my own extensions

Also, if there would be 'pay for' mods, I'm quite sure there soon would be a free alternative mod ...

You got that right!

Also, if there would be 'pay for' mods, I'm quite sure there soon would be a free alternative mod ...

As Frank points out, there's less pressure on you.

I've had a number of people asking about donating to me for my mods, but I've replied to them that at this moment, I don't have any use for the money, that I've only released mods to the public that I myself want.
And said that they should either keep it, or donate it to another mod creator or Rickard instead.

So, really, I don't think you will get that much difference in income, and no licence worries either

But ... it's impossible to tell what lies in the future, but this is kind of a guesswork/gut feeling I have ...

Jansson wrote:

But modifications require a GPL licensed software to run, therefor he have to release them as GPL as well. This also goes for future extensions.

What if, hypothetically, I made my own software that was (technically) compatible with (but in no way derived from) PunBB's extension system, and that extensions worked as intended with either software. Where would the the deriving/modification/including-of-code occur in the actual extension file?

That's for a court to decide

But modifications require a GPL licensed software to run, therefor he have to release them as GPL as well. This also goes for future extensions.

What if, hypothetically, I made my own software that was (technically) compatible with (but in no way derived from) PunBB's extension system, and that extensions worked as intended with either software. Where would the the deriving/modification/including-of-code occur in the actual extension file?

EDIT --

Could always add admin/moderator viewable adds to any site that uses your mods too... (that ways only the "original installer" get's to see the adds, but they see them every day).

But if you charges for a mod buyers will demand more than they does today, it would be more work to do for you.

I am not entirly sure that is true, Take for example UnrealIRCd which is released under the GPL. Coders create "modules" which are essentially the same thing as plugins/extensions and sell them all the time :\

May be because the original developer doesn't bother, it probably is a good thing for the community and therefor they let it be. Just a thought.

Btw, what license are these plugins sold under?

Paul wrote:

I would say that extensions certainly would be.

The only real problem with the licence is the phrase "work based on the program". The definition is so vague that that it would need to be interpreted by the Courts. What is clear though is that anything that could be described as software, which an extension would be, is within the definition.

I don't think the question here is what the software is based on. Because he isn't doing a PunBB fork or anything. But modifications require a GPL licensed software to run, therefor he have to release them as GPL as well. This also goes for future extensions. They can be compared to what is referred to as "plugins" in the GPL.

I am not entirly sure that is true, Take for example UnrealIRCd which is released under the GPL. Coders create "modules" which are essentially the same thing as plugins/extensions and sell them all the time :\

Here's two links, the second explains the difference between the two GNU licencess. Basically, if it's GPL, anything that looks sideways, through a kalidascope at the code, has to itself be GPL. LGPL let's prorietary software look sidesways, through a kalidascope though.