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PunBB Forums → General discussion → Question regarding license
Hi there,
is it possible to remove the "powered by punbb" in the rendering of the site? i've got a client that asks me to leave it away. i mean only the for the end user visible "powered by punbb" link at the footer... I would still integrate the copyright notes within the code itself as html comments.
ah, okay. sorry that i didnt find it myself. did not think it was in the faq, but thought i have to read and "understand" the license itself :-)
so I am allowed but should "better not". hmmm. not easy to decide... I dont want to "hurt" this project, since I think its a really nice one... what would you say? *lol*
its for a small message board for a local (political) party's website.
edit: i'm thinking of removing the notice in the footer but donating a little instead... do you think that is ok? not regarding to the license, but more to the project itself
Why do you want to remove the footer, why does it hurt anyone?
its just a wish of my client ("customer"? the guys i set up a website for). i dont know why, but they wish to do so. so my idea is to, if i cannot move them to let the footer as it i, at least donate something to "adjust" this case.
Ok, i just don't understand it.
Its very simple, just remind them that PunBB is free and that if they want the privilege of removing copyrights and link backs then they can pay big bucks for vBulletin or IPB instead. You could also ask them if their political party is in favour of the Open Source Software movement. If they answer yes then they are stuck.
Removed by Connorhd.
the license not allowed you to remove
The licence is GPL. He can change anything but the licence itself, and edit the copyright in the source. There are plenty of reason why someone might want to remove the name, copyright, version, etc. on the frontend, and anyone is allowed to do so... and more, they can't be revoked that right.
There are plenty of good software around that don't add a copyright notice on each page... Drupal or Textpattern for starter. It's not a big crime or anything...
I find strange that a PunBB moderator would heavily imply what the licence explicity say one can do he can't do. It mislead the thread's author ? who was kind enough to ask ? in a very official, and disturbing way.
This ? and legal points ? aside, there are good reasons for this. What if every author of a a line of code Rickard re-used, every translator, everyone who discovered a bug, everyone who send a patch, ask for a copyright notice ? The old BSD licence has been down that road... software with several pages of copyright are nonsense.
I don't think there is anything malicious intended in politely asking people to leave the copyright in the footer intact. That being said, you are well within your rights to remove it - and to do anything else with the PunBB software you like, provided that you follow the requirements set forth by the GPL license. I think it's a very nice gesture to leave the copyright notice on there (and I do), but I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with removing it. Either way, it's not a legal issue - it's a moral one. If you appreciate the free and unrestricted use of this great software, the author politely asks that you leave the copyright in the footer intact. If you feel you have good reason to remove it, you're certainly allowed to do so. Not that I'm a lawyer or have any official connection to PunBB. 
4.2 - May I remove the copyright from the page footer? Yes, but please don't. If you must, please try to keep at least "Powered by PunBB" with the link to www.punbb.org intact.
I find strange that a PunBB moderator would heavily imply what the licence explicity say one can do he can't do. It mislead the thread's author ? who was kind enough to ask ? in a very official, and disturbing way..
Sorry, something got lost in translation. I wasn't implying anything about what one can do with the licence. I was rather suggesting a tactic for manipulating his clients if he would rather keep the copyright notice. Years of legal training have resulted in "official and disturbing" being my normal mode of operation
More seriously, if a web designer is regularly using PunBB as part of sites developed for commercial and other clients then I agree there may be good reasons for removing the copyright etc. In those circumstances what I would hope is that the web designer would give PunBB a plug on their own site.
Yep. Setting up a colophon is the least one can do I think. Donate is always good, too
If you're making money off of it, then the least you can do is return something back as appreciation of the hard work involved 
PunBB Forums → General discussion → Question regarding license
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