[OPINION] Duplicating Abandoned Apps/plugins

Plugins & Plugin Development General Plugin Discussion
#1

Hi developers,

I wanted to ask a broad and general question. There are a number of apps/plugins that have been abandoned by the original developers, for good reasons I might add. I for one would like to see the return of some of those apps/plugins. My question is this:

Is it OK to amend an old app/plugin, bring it up to date for UI7 and allow others to use it?

#2

It would be polite to PM the original (or most-recent) author but, otherwise, I don’t see why not.

One catch is that you would not be able to edit the App Store entry unless the owner adds you as a contributor. If the plugin is truly abandoned, you may need MCV to delete the plugin so you can recreate it.

#3

[quote=“RexBeckett, post:2, topic:186898”]It would be polite to PM the original (or most-recent) author but, otherwise, I don’t see why not.

One catch is that you would not be able to edit the App Store entry unless the owner adds you as a contributor. If the plugin is truly abandoned, you may need MCV to delete the plugin so you can recreate it.[/quote]

So then, would it be wrong to release it under a different name and reference the original as the true source of the plugin?

#4

It would be “wrong,” in the sense of uncivil, to do so without permission as Rex described. Depending on licensing terms of the original plugin in question, it could also be wrong in a legal sense.

In the case of the two plugins I have in the app store, both have GitHub projects where I welcome pull requests, where, after sanity check and review, I would merge their changes and publish the progress as the next version in line. The plugin(s) to which you are referring may have source-code collaboration options like this.

Just my opinion,
watou

#5

What are the concerned plugins ? If the author is still reading the forum, he will answer to you.

#6

First thing would be to verify that the plugin development is really abandoned by his author.

#7

Speaking of… I see that Vera obsoleted my Nest plugin by making their own in the new UI7 firmware. So instead of empowering an external developer to make a popular UI5 plugin work properly under UI7, they just stepped right over the external developer and made their own.

Can’t say I’m surprised given the long, sordid history with developers. I was going to update the Ecobee plugin, but with events like these, is it even worth my trouble I wonder?

watou

#8

All of my plugins are released under the GNU Public Licence. You are free* to take my source and fork it** provided that you also release under the same licence.

  • Indeed, I could not prevent it even if I wanted to.
    ** I can also simply transfer ownership of the plugin repository to you.
#9

Interesting Opinions…

One plugin comes to mind as an example is the Vacation Ghost. Chixxi did some amazing work on that… I appreciate that because I have spent two days working through his code to see if I can fix it for ui7… but thats JUST AN EXAMPLE… there are loads of plugins that need bringing up to date…

I totally agree that this shouldn’t be released to the public without efforts to contact the original developer but if he is adamant that he doesn’t want it ever released again… thats where my questions started I guess.

Again, the example of the Vacation Ghost is a good one… I could never have written that but I can fix it for ui7. Chixxi is quite clear he doesn’t want it available, so I will fix it for myself and then leave it at that I guess. But it seems a shame to fix it and not share it.

#10

Speaking of… I see that Vera obsoleted my Nest plugin by making their own in the new UI7 firmware. So instead of empowering an external developer to make a popular UI5 plugin work properly under UI7, they just stepped right over the external developer and made their own.

Can’t say I’m surprised given the long, sordid history with developers. I was going to update the Ecobee plugin, but with events like these, is it even worth my trouble I wonder?

watou[/quote]

See you are a good example of this… it completely makes sense you are abandoning development. But lets say in this case that MCV didn’t have an alternative and you abandoned it with good reason… how would you feel if another developer took your code, made the updates and released it as a new app, of course crediting the base of that app back to you…