DISCUSSION: Changing the footer copyright notice

[mophsy]

[ MOD NOTE: discussion thread from DeanMarshall's post: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,552.0.html ]





But there is another way to do it without so much modification on templates [for those who dont know html and css].

Go to folder /includes open with a text editor file "version.php" and change the info that you will find on lines 29 & 31. And you can keep the footer but it will show your Copyright notice.

[DeanMarshall]

For reference: point 5 of the Joomla License Guidelines http://www.joomla.org/content/view/5/6/1/1/ reiterates your right to edit / remove the Copyright notice from the footer - as well as explaining your other rights and obligations under the GNU GPL.

Dean.

[mojito]

Sorry but this is as clear as mud. Especially now we got joomla and mambo out there.

Can someone answer me simply , can I remove the text/link at the bottom of the portal ?

m

[DeanMarshall]

Sorry but this is as clear as mud. Especially now we got joomla and mambo out there.

Can someone answer me simply , can I remove the text/link at the bottom of the portal ?

m

A quick note about copyright and your site
From the start let's make one thing clear - you own your site, the content of the site is yours and does not belong to anyone else. There is an obligation to maintain the copyright notice within the code but you are not obliged to allocate the copyright of your site to anyone but you

Or if you prefer - yes, you can.

I suppose I could edit the original post to say:
There is an obligation to maintain the copyright notice within Joomla's PHP source code but you are not obliged to allocate the copyright of your site to anyone but you in the publicly visible page footer

Dean.

[mojito]

Thanks dean, so it has to be visible in the source but not in the footer.

im clear now.

tar

[jeremycurtis]

Hi,
I believe I undertand the GPL licensing properly, but someone (anonymously) sent me a note stating that I had illegally removed the Joomla copyright notice from my site - www.childrenwebmag.com - I believe they are wrong.  The template, graphics (not much) are all developed by me and the copyright is still in the source code (not that you can see).

So can someone confirm that what I am doing is fine and that there seem to be some self-appointed GPL/Joomal/Copyright police around trying to scare people into adding the Joomla copyright notice back in.

Anyone else had this happen.

Thanks in advance

[stingrey]

I believe I undertand the GPL licensing properly, but someone (anonymously) sent me a note stating that I had illegally removed the Joomla copyright notice from my site - www.childrenwebmag.com - I believe they are wrong.  The template, graphics (not much) are all developed by me and the copyright is still in the source code (not that you can see).

So can someone confirm that what I am doing is fine and that there seem to be some self-appointed GPL/Joomal/Copyright police around trying to scare people into adding the Joomla copyright notice back in.

You are NOT required to show the visible Joomla! copyright notice on the bottom of a site.
It is NOT illegal NOT to show the Joomla! copyright notice.

What the GPL forbids is removal of copyright notices in the SOURCE CODE. 
That is copyright notices in the joomla files (e.g. *.php files).  The output you see when browsing a site is NOT the source code, it is merely the html output created as a result of the source code.



Anyone warning people that removal of the visible html copyright on the bottom of the default template, does not understand the GPL license.



It is because of the confusion on this matter that default Joomla 1.0.x installs no longer retains such a copyright notice on the default templates

[andyahoo]

But there is another way to do it without so much modification on templates [for those who dont know html and css].

Go to folder /includes open with a text editor file "version.php" and change the info that you will find on lines 29 & 31. And you can keep the footer but it will show your Copyright notice.

I just edited this file. I took to much out and am not a coder. I get this error now.

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_CONSTANT_ENCAPSED_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/******/public_html/includes/version.php on line 49

This is the line I edited:
var $URL = 'Joomla!

Could someone let me know what goes at the end of this. Please help I am completely locked out of admin. I'll have to do this via ftp

Thanks,

Andy



[edit] I calmed down and downloaded joomla again and looked at he file I jacked up. It's fixed.

Thanks for lookin 

[leolam]

Change the 'includes/version file'
Advantage: This is easy to implement and works well. You can keep the footer without making any changes to your template and it will show your own and personal Copyright notice.
Disadvantage: When a new release arrives and you update your CMS you will have to do it again.
Details: See above Edit the file '/includes/version.php' and change the information that you will find around lines 29 & 31 (Joomla! version 1.0.7)

With your text editor, open the includes/version.php file and towards the bottom you'll see:

/** @var string Copyright Text */
var $COPYRIGHT = 'Copyright 2000 - 2005 Miro International Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.';
/** @var string URL */
var $URL = 'Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.';

Example:
Change: 'Copyright 2000 - 2005 Miro International Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.';
to
'Copyright xxxx Your Site Information Here. All rights reserved.';

Change: 'Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.';
to
'SiteName';

Make a module to include your own content copyright notice.
Advantage: This is not overwritten when your CMS is upgraded.
Disadvantage: Not so easy to do unless you are experienced in making and positioning modules. It still requires changes to your template/index.php.
Details:
Remove the 'includes/footer.php' statement in the bottom of your template's index.php and create a new module position in its place.
Make a new module and create your own copyright notice inside that module, then assign it to that new module position.

To copyright:

add-on components, modules, and other extensions to Joomla! or Mambo come with their own copyright and legal notices.  The information given above only applies to the basic Joomla! and Mambo core installations. For information about whether you can legally remove the copyright of 3rd party add-ons, you will need to refer to the information they include and, if in doubt, contact the developer before making any changes.

Leo

[gunni]

okay so it is allowed to remove this line...

Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
---------
But is it allowed to remove this line that appears in source code ?

[DeanMarshall]

Copyright messages in the source look like this:

/**
* @version $Id: index.php 1135 2005-11-20 21:00:27Z stingrey $
* @package Joomla
* @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
* @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL, see LICENSE.php
* Joomla! is free software. This version may have been modified pursuant
* to the GNU General Public License, and as distributed it includes or
* is derivative of works licensed under the GNU General Public License or
* other free or open source software licenses.
* See COPYRIGHT.php for copyright notices and details.
*/

and should NOT be changed except by the developers.

Embedded html such as that which you quote and which is designed for OUTPUT into the final web page is yours to do with as you wish.

Dean

[gunni]

thank you for quick reply and thank you for exact info..

[guilliam]

.





discussion thread from DeanMarshall's post: http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,552.0.html




.

[Florre]

But is it allowed to remove this line that appears in source code ?

Can anyone tell me in witch file I can find this row?

/Florre

[AmyStephen]

Florre -

That line should appear at the bottom of your Template's index.php file.

Cheers! Amy

I love your avatar, BTW!

[Florre]

Hello Amy

Sorry, but I can't find it in any of the files... 

Can it be "puzzeled" so its not possible to find the whole string?

(Thanks for the comment about my avatar  )

[AmyStephen]

Florre - Are you talking about this website: http://www.grillweb.se ? Because if you are, it does not appear that it is even in your template. If it is another website, can you post the address or PM it to me? Amy

[idigital]

Ah, the ol' footer copyright debate, that had a bit of airing back in Mambo.

The best way to alter that generator metatag is Leolam's method, except the generator string is made up of the $product and $copyright from the version file. Otherwise you can hack around in core code to remove it, but the version file edit is much cleaner.

Cheers,

Damian

[Florre]

Its both www.grillweb.se and a new one I work with: http://afteknik.homedns.org/vss/.

This last one is just Joomla! with its standard template...

This is not an important matter, but its enoying me that it says "Copyright"... someone could missunderstand it that's the contents has copyrigt to Opens Sourse Matters...

/Florre

[idigital]

See my last post

edit: Change the $product and $copyright variables in the includes/version.php file

[Florre]

Thanks Idigital! 
Now it works as I want it.

/Florre

[patjk]

Okay, I took out this line of code to remove the footer info:


However, I have changed my mind and would like to put it back in, but I don't remember where to put it in my template, where do I put it?  Thanks
Pat

[skandal]

But is it allowed to remove this line that appears in source code ?

Can anyone tell me in witch file I can find this row?

/Florre

Hi, flore. I see you don't have the joomal copyright on your site.
I want to remove it too. I want to know, if i can buy this right ?
Thank you.

[Gerlof]

From the Joomla! FAQ (http://dev.joomla.org/content/view/2336/102/):

Can I remove the Joomla! Copyright notice in the footer region (and other related questions)?
Yes, you can remove the Joomla! copyright notices from any part of the output that the Joomla! application generates.  You may not remove the copyright notice from the source code itself.


Can I remove the Joomla! Copyright notice in the Meta information of a Joomla! website? Y
es, you can remove the copyright notices from any part of the output that the Joomla! application generates.  You may not remove the copyright notice from the source code itself.

Gerlof

[DeanMarshall]

Here are some more specific notes - by my favourite author
http://help.joomla.org/component/option ... temid,268/

Dean