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GPL license question when embedding MediaWiki pages into your webapp

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Trond Olsen

17 Dec 2008 17 Dec '08

8:01 p.m.

Hi, I'm doing some experimentation with a webapp and thought the online API could be a good way to deliver documentation to the users. Not all of my webapp is open-source though, so how does the GPL license of the original source-code when you're using MediaWiki as a service?

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Roan Kattouw

17 Dec 17 Dec

9:15 p.m.

Trond Olsen schreef:

Hi, I'm doing some experimentation with a webapp and thought the online API could be a good way to deliver documentation to the users. Not all of my webapp is open-source though, so how does the GPL license of the original source-code when you're using MediaWiki as a service?

It doesn't, or at least not in the way you're getting at. The fact that MediaWiki is GPLed does not impose any restrictions on the content you put in it or on the clients you use to get that content. To be more specific: it's OK to use a non-GPLed application to pull data from the API. What you do need to keep in mind, though, is that the content you're serving may be covered by a license, which you'll have to respect. Of course, if the content is yours, that's not a problem. Roan Kattouw (Catrope)

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Trond Olsen

12 Jan 12 Jan

3:02 p.m.

New subject: GPL license question when embedding MediaWiki pages into your webapp

I'm unsure of how the governance of MediaWiki works, but is it possible to make these kind of questions explicit on the http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API in terms of licensing? For example, if you use the MediaWiki in such or such way, the GPL-license apply etc? I found I had asked this question a year ago (yeah, I'm working slowly) and I got some conflicting answers. How would I go about in making such a request? Regards, Trond Olsen. On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:15 PM, Roan Kattouw <roan.kattouw(a)home.nl> wrote:

Trond Olsen schreef:

Hi, I'm doing some experimentation with a webapp and thought the online API could be a good way to deliver documentation to the users. Not all of my webapp is open-source though, so how does the GPL license of the original source-code when you're using MediaWiki as a service?

It doesn't, or at least not in the way you're getting at. The fact that MediaWiki is GPLed does not impose any restrictions on the content you put in it or on the clients you use to get that content. To be more specific: it's OK to use a non-GPLed application to pull data from the API. What you do need to keep in mind, though, is that the content you're serving may be covered by a license, which you'll have to respect. Of course, if the content is yours, that's not a problem. Roan Kattouw (Catrope) _______________________________________________ Mediawiki-api mailing list Mediawiki-api(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-api

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Roan Kattouw

3:21 p.m.

New subject: GPL license question when embedding MediaWiki pages into your webapp

Trond Olsen schreef:

I'm unsure of how the governance of MediaWiki works, but is it possible to make these kind of questions explicit on the http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API in terms of licensing? For example, if you use the MediaWiki in such or such way, the GPL-license apply etc? I found I had asked this question a year ago (yeah, I'm working slowly) and I got some conflicting answers. How would I go about in making such a request?

By finding someone who actually has a clue ;) Most of us programmers aren't lawyers and are just sharing their best guess. If you can get someone with legal expertise to clear up the issue, feel free to add it to the docs at MW.org (it's a wiki, so anyone can edit it). Roan Kattouw (Catrope)

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Trond Olsen

5:34 p.m.

New subject: GPL license question when embedding MediaWiki pages into your webapp

Wouldn't it just be safer to slap the GPL license notice on the API interface wiki-page since no one actually knows how it applies? With the API you can essentially wrap MediaWiki into your own application and extend onwards from there. On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Roan Kattouw <roan.kattouw(a)home.nl> wrote:

Trond Olsen schreef:

I'm unsure of how the governance of MediaWiki works, but is it possible

to

make these kind of questions explicit on the http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API in terms of licensing? For example, if

you

use the MediaWiki in such or such way, the GPL-license apply etc? I found

I

had asked this question a year ago (yeah, I'm working slowly) and I got

some

conflicting answers. How would I go about in making such a request?

By finding someone who actually has a clue ;) Most of us programmers aren't lawyers and are just sharing their best guess. If you can get someone with legal expertise to clear up the issue, feel free to add it to the docs at MW.org (it's a wiki, so anyone can edit it). Roan Kattouw (Catrope) _______________________________________________ Mediawiki-api mailing list Mediawiki-api(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-api

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Roan Kattouw
Trond Olsen