physics - 9:07 pm on Jul 22, 2010 (gmt 0)

Silliness aside, I can think of dozens of applications being run in wordpress that, although they do "hook" into wordpress sites, the code is entirely separate from wordpress itself and could be run on ANY site. Themes are also essentially php code that could easily do the same. THEREFORE, as per GPL terms, since they are stored in a SEPARATE forlder they can be sold for profit. End of story(and i've yet to see a plugin or template NOT in its own folder).

Sct_Kickaxe, the folder they're in isn't the issue. If that were the case it'd be all too easy to circumvent the GPL whenever you wanted. It's the fact that the way themes work in Wordpress means the code is all mingled up in memory:

Its contents are combined with the WordPress code in memory to be processed by PHP along with (and completely indistinguishable from) the rest of WordPress.

Nevermind the fact that the authors of thesis flat out stole whole swaths of code apparently.

Note that the FSF lawyers _do_ say that it's likely _possible_ to write a Wordpress theme that is not GPL. Just as I imagine that it's possible to write a plugin or whatever that's not GPL. But you have to have a good understanding of the GPL first.