[wp-hackers] Removal Of Over 200 Themes?

[Otto]

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 10:56 AM, Rich Pedley <elflop at googlemail.com> wrote:
> 2008/12/12 Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com>:
>> Honestly, I don't think they should have themes in there that link
>> back to a theme author's site if ANY of the themes that author has are
>> non-GPL. Why should WordPress promote anybody who violates the
>> WordPress license?
>>
>> A theme that is not GPL is in violation of the WordPress license.
>> Period. It is not possible to create a non-GPL-compatible theme and
>> remain legal.
>
> Could not the same be be said of plugins?

No, it's possible in theory to make a plugin that does not integrate
tightly enough to be a derivative work. Because the only thing that a
plugin has to do to be included is to have some special comments at
the top of it. Admittedly, a plugin of any substance has to make calls
into deeper WP functions, and so then has to be GPL-compatible as
well.

Themes, on the other hand, *have* to make direct calls into WordPress
code, making them derivative works. They have no other choice. And so
they must therefore be GPL compatible. Since WordPress is GPL and not
LGPL, they don't get to choose otherwise.

-Otto