Due to my previous job, I have a high level of paranoia regarding license terms. So, please forgive me for taking this question to a very deep level.
Is there a version of the NewBlog Module or is the DNN version of the module available in Source Code with a BSD License? Can I get a BSD licensed version today? or is the only source availble the GPL version?
I would like to use the NewBlog module and to make some customizations to it. However since it was released under the GPL license I believe that making any changes to this source (even minor changes) and incorporating in my web site may legally bind me to make all of the source code to my site public under the GPL terms. (I know this is an extreme view of GPL, but I prefer to look at this carefully before I touch any GPL code).
Please see http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php
2. b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.
…
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
Since NewBlog is a DNN Module which is deployed as a library, why wasn’t it originally released under the L-GPL license (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php)? My understanding is that the L-GPL license has less restrictive terms and is meant to be used when a library component is to be released, but the L-GPL clearly defines that the rest of the system is not subject to the GPL license.
One last totally paranoid note: If the DotNetNuke core team has used the NewBlog Module and made modifications to it, and that is being used in DotNetNuke.com, does that imply that the GPL terms of NewBlog now supersede the BSD terms of DotNetNuke itself?
Now, I am not an Intellectual Property attorney and I am not an expert in this field, but has the DNN core team consulted an IP attorney about this? Is there any definitive guidance?
Thanks for your patience and any insights you have.