

Ask HN: Re-implementing an Open Source project in another language - jpcx01

If someone reimplemented a popular Open Source project in another language (say someone rebuilt PhpBB in Django), what would the license on the new project be?<p>Specifically, say it was reimplented as a black box (only page flow and maybe some shared ui assets css/js/img), and the final product looked the same but no web code similarities or database implementation details are shared.<p>Would one still have to release it as GPL? Could they release it as BSD instead?<p>Would you recommend a lawyer for this type of question? If so, please let me know if you have a referral.<p>Thanks in advance
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bdfh42
This one is pretty simple. If you were to write a clone of (say) PhpBB without
looking at the original source code but just re-engineering the functionality
you wanted to replicate then you would have a new piece of software over which
you could claim copyright and which you could license as you wish. This is
just the same as sitting down to write (for example) a new word processing
program that emulated key features of MS Word.

However, porting an existing GPL code base to a new language would I strongly
suspect be seen as a simple "fork" of the original code and you would (quite
rightly) have to release your new code under the GPL license. This is fair and
just - you can't just rip off other peoples intellectual property no matter
how much work there is involved in doing so.

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jpcx01
Very useful answer. Thanks!

One quick clarification.. what if I reused CSS and Image Assets from PhpBB?
Its sort of strange there because there are many templates that are under
different licenses than the source code itself.

How does one define GPL on CSS and Images? They are open by default (since
anyone can view source on a browser). I'm guessing this IP is governed under a
different set of laws (copyright?).

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SwellJoe
_They are open by default (since anyone can view source on a browser)._

That doesn't make them "open" in the sense of Open Source or Free Software. It
merely makes them open in the same way a book is open...you can read it, and
you could even copy it without technical impediment, but it can still be a
copyrighted work.

