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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0029170mantisbtcustomizationpublic2021-11-11 16:01
Reporterrabbit01 Assigned Todregad  
PrioritynormalSeveritytrivialReproducibilityalways
Status closedResolutionno change required 
Summary0029170: Configurations covered by GPL?
Description

Hi.
Probably not the right place to ask this question, however I would like to address most of the authors of mantisbt regarding that question.

MantisBT is covered by GPL, so I need to allow access to the source, which is basically given by not removing the link to mantisbt.org.
We modified mantis to fit our processes only just by configuration of config_inc.php audn custom_strings_inc.php. There is absolutely no change in the source at all.

Now my question:
Am I allowed to protect those specific modification with an Non-disclosure-agreement to my clients, so they are not allowed to redistribute the modified config-files?

Again, I appologize, if that's not really the right place to post that question.

Kind regards,
Rabbit

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dregad

dregad

2021-10-14 09:04

developer   ~0065909

Are you actually distributing your customized version of MantisBT (i.e. the source code) to your clients, for them to install ? Or just hosting a MantisBT instance with your customizations for them to use ?

My understanding is that if you're not selling or redistributing the code, then there is no need to make your changes available. Per wikipedia:

In purely private (or internal) use—with no sales and no distribution—the software code may be modified and parts reused without requiring the source code to be released.

If you are redistributing the software, then GPL applies and forbids doing so under a non-disclosure agreement. But even then your specific case is debatable, because config_inc.php and custom_strings_inc.php are not part of the original distribution, and therefore IMHO not covered by the GPL.

That said, I am not a lawyer... And speaking for myself here, I'm definitely not going to sue you over this ;-)

rabbit01

rabbit01

2021-10-14 14:30

reporter   ~0065910

Hi dregad.
Thanks for your clarification.
The second is the case and is actually exactly the dilemma I've got with it.

Anyway... it looks like we will not write a NDA anyway, just because even if we would, there's almost no way how to prove that the customer disclosed information to others: Too many ways to configure mantis the same way or slightly different (e.g. they could use the database instead).

And even if they do: we (and especially you guys as developers) can be proud, that this wonderful piece of software get distributed all over the place to solve all sorts of problems.

A big shout-out to you! Thanks!

Issue can be closed in my eyes (except if you would like to continue the discussion)...

rabbit01

rabbit01

2021-10-14 14:31

reporter   ~0065911

Oh, just wait with closing the issue for a while.
I still got a request to GPL outstanding to clarify that question of configuration files and GPL-coverage.

Will paste answre to this issue for later references

dregad

dregad

2021-10-29 12:35

developer   ~0065967

You have not provided any feedback, so I'm going to close the issue; feel free to reopen if necessary.