Are we allowed to sell plugins?

Recently I have seen quite a few developers selling both Free and Paid versions of their plugins using http://www.tradebit.com/ to manage transactions.

As far as I am aware this is violating Bukkits TOS.

I'm just looking for clarity here, can anyone please let me know thanks.

 

However, this appears to be applicable to the forums only. I have no clue if it's allowed to sell Bukkit plugins.

 

Well as far as I know Bukkit is under GPL or some similar license so they can't sell the code or any derived code which is under GPL as Bukkit is GPL.

 

Well, how much Bukkit code is in a typical plugin? Hooks?

 

But you can use an API from a program which is licensed under the GPL without using the GPL, too. Bukkit is an API. Also nothing prevents you from (re)selling GPL code. Wanna buy bukkit for $500 from me?

 

Also note, Bukkit itself is in a legal gray area, it's not particularly likely they'll take you to court.
(Actually, it's not very gray at all, they're quite clearly in violation, Mojang just doesn't mind)

 

Seems like it doesn't really matter if you decide to sell your plugins or not

 

You're not allowed to say "pay me and I'll make plugins for you" in plugin requests, but you can offer to do requests.

I think that's where the line is drawn.

If there was a "developers for hire" subforum, you'd put that there.

 

That's what I was thinking as I myself have done that quite a lot. It's when people force people to pay for the full of version of a plugin such as this : http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/me...oice-of-skins-and-capes-spout-1-0-1-r1.51829/

 

OMG, this is just evil. Such threads belong to LAWL. <.<

 

I know right! Plus I'm pretty sure that the CapeMe plugin was ripped from @MineDev or @iPhysX or @alta189.

 

he even knows what he's doing! In a spoiler in the thread:

But it's still presented at the headline!
It it's really stolen the original author should sue him, get the money and spend some (if not all) of it to bukkit.

 

Yeah haha but who is going to sue

 

Well, here in germany we have a (really bad thing) called "Abmahnung". A short description would be: Every lawyer is allowed to send one and basically it says "Pay $X to my client and stop action Y. If you don't we'll sue you!". It's bad because evil lawyers use it to rip money from people that didn't do anything wrong but are afraid to be sued, but in this special case it would be a good thing... :/

 

Abmahnung coming that guys way lol

 

I think Mojang specifically allows them to use their code, seeing as the Bukkit team is rumored (well, it's almost certain, I don't recall if it was ever explicitly stated though) to have access to the original source code from Mojang itself.

 

Licensing-wise it's still a mess.
Yes, Mojang allows the current situation to continue, but Bukkit certainly doesn't adhere to all the constraints in GPL.
Also, the source code access they have is unrelated to Bukkit in its current form.

 

Just to clear up any rumors. They do not have access to the original source code. Notch was the one that started that rumor, but it was a lie.

 

http://twitter.com/#!/jeb_/status/115709635629023232 ?

 

That doesn't mean they get full source. Every time they update dinnerbone groans.

 

I will never pay for a plugin. Reason, I run a server for free, I do not accept donations, so it's money out of the pocket for me. Why? Because I think it's fun, I hope that developers code plugins for the same reason!

Also, I really hope that some of the big pay servers, donate some of the income to plugin developers.

 

@xcanner: This is another topic we shouldn't talk about here (it can easily end in a flamewar).

 

True.

I know at least one guy who wrote a custom plugin that I would have gladly paid money for if I ran a bigger server, although the functionality got redone and put into a free plugin later. I think that the current scheme is great, but I also think that devs do deserve money for their work, and I wouldn't mind if they used Adf.ly or the like, but the current forum/bukkitdev rules don't allow that.

Also, some servers need custom plugins, so they pay developers to write them.

As for the big servers, they have bills to pay, more money usually is used for server hardware upgrades, and some servers pay developers for custom plugins, but I don't think many of them donate to devs, although I could be mistaken.