Joomla Integration

[feldon23]

Absolutely.


SMF Bridge for Joomla! Discontinued

As some of you might know, there have recently been some changes on part of the Joomla! project in how they interpret the license their software is under. Namely, while the project remains under the exact same license (the GPL), they are now interpreting this license in its strictest sense. In addition, the project has announced that this change in interpretation is retroactive and applies to all previous versions of their software.

As a result of this change of direction, only GPL-licensed software can legally be distributed and used inside the Joomla! software. While we regret and are saddened by this development, we respect Joomla!'s position on their software license. As neither SMF nor the SMF bridge for Joomla! are licensed under GPL or a compatible license, we have had to cease distribution of our bridge. Please note that running the software as separate standalone pieces is perfectly fine, the issue is in the integration/bridge.

Due to this license issue, it is not legal for us to distribute our bridge.

SMF Bridge topic on Joomla.org

Joomla have all but confirmed that a vBulletin -> Joomla bridge is impossible under the GPL license. And because of the frequent moving of the goalposts and suppositions on part of Joomla and Free Software Foundation, even the announcement by Joomla core programmers that they plan to separate the API out of Joomla and release the API under LGPL so that commercial add-ons and plugins are permissible seems impossible if they are not going to allow bridges.


Here's my topic that I've started to try to get some answers*. At one point, I had pity on Joomla. That their hands were being tied by the GPL. But further responses have made it clear that they are CHOOSING to interpret the GPL in a way that Linus Torvalds, Rosenlaw, and others find absurd and harmful. At this point, I'm pretty fed up with the situation. For the last 18 months, Joomla users and developers have been investing a significant amount of time (which = money) into learning what will be necessary for the 1.0 -> 1.5 conversion. Developers have spent huge amounts of time learning the brand new 1.5 API. Some of them are in the middle of their product lifecycles, ready to release 1.5 products the moment Joomla goes Gold. Now, at the last minute, Joomla is pulling the rug out from under them and choosing to interpret the GPL license in the most restrictive way possible.

Just to be clear, people try to say that the GPL does not prevent commercial software and does not prevent people making money off their add-ons. What the GPL does say is, YES, you can charge people to download your software, BUT they have the right to make copies and send those copies to whomever they wish, including publishing them on a website. People have tried to say that Joomla add-on developers can make their money by offering service contracts and/or tech support.

The responses from Joomla team members boggle the mind. After their previous tolerance of people writing commercial add-ons to Joomla and/or bridging Joomla with other scripts, now they have come right out and said "the best thing about Joomla is the GPL" (which is nonsense -- the best thing about Joomla is ease of implementation and customization, quality of coding, and availability of high quality free and pay plugins and add-ons) and that "We can survive completely without commercial software". I keep waiting for a haze-filled 60's "love and software should be free" kind of vibe. It's quite odd.

If there is one thing I have learned from this, I will NEVER license software under GPL. It is far too restrictive on users, content integrators, and solution providers. I want people to have freedom to use my software how they see fit (excluding selling it or re-branding it). The GPL is actually very restrictive in this regard. I have no intention of trying to control what my users do with my software. I'm just happy that people find a use for my software and maybe throw me a few bucks in return.

*They have the "GPL Lounge" forum locked down so only the original poster of a question and the Moderators, Developers, and other Joomla Team members and associates can respond to. This is because of 70+ page topics that were mostly directionless and people flaming each other to a crisp. If you want to reply to my topic, post a new topic with an "Re: Yet another post" and they will merge it for you.

[tyler_d]

Wow Feldon... there are very enlightening debates going on with this respect to this very deep issue. Thanks very much for those source links.

I am in agreement with the fact that bridges should not be applicable to this hoopla.

I hope they wise up over there cuz this will have a dramatic impact on Joomla if they keep heading down this strict path

[MiCCAS]

Joomlart.com will be releasing a new bridge which will be part of their Extensions club - very very soon

[katman]

I realize this is a discussion on how to integrate vB with Joomla but there also seems to be talk of SMF so I figured I'd mention Fireboard and ask what's wrong with using it along with your Joomla installation? http://www.bestofjoomla.com/

[columbusgeek]

Fireboard is nice but no where near as feature rich as vB.

[geohunt.ca]

I've purchased the bbpixel method, but am still to receive their email... Kind of frustrating waiting for that download link to arrive, when I just bought vBulletin this morning and want to get to work!!

[Reeve of Shinra]

Was the joomla "bridge" issue that originated this topic ever resolved?

[Oninuva]

Was the joomla "bridge" issue that originated this topic ever resolved?

I am interested in findin out too..

sorry for old bump but this is good topic

[Laughingbird]

Merging Joomla with vBulletin

Found this thread today while looking around for new plug ins.

I've successfully merged my Joomla front end with my vBulletin forum!
I'm very happy with the results. I found my Joomla template from Yootheme.com - and used a company called bbpixel.com (very nice people to deal with) to help me merge everything.

They did a terrific job.

Here's the forum if you're interested in checking it out:

http://www.logodesignforum.com

- Marc

[Will.Spencer]

The BBPixel integration does not support Community Builder. That's a pretty serious limitation.

The ELearningForce vBulletin Duo-Sync Bridge does support Community Builder.

[azrar]

I've rebuild my bbamba.info site from Joomla 1.0.13 to 1.5.9, and here comes the forum issue.
Previously i used fireboard, as it was the best compatibility with Community builder, but with 1.5 native, it doesnt work. even the new version of fireboard [as they called], kunena.com, does not have native or community builder compatability till now. therefore i'm here. but my questin is does vB goes fine with Community Builder?
As my site is focusing on business students, and i want to make a community with this group, therefore it is important to me.

The BBPixel integration does not support Community Builder. That's a pretty serious limitation.

The ELearningForce vBulletin Duo-Sync Bridge does support Community Builder.

for that, which one should be my best choice? is there any other alternative?
N.B. I'm new with vB.

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[azrar]

Is it not possible to make a Joomla-compatible version of vB? a vB addon for Joomla or a Joomla addon for vB?
Actually need the PMB system and Community builder of Joomla work with VB for my site http://bbamba.info

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[Wayne Luke]

Is it not possible to make a Joomla-compatible version of vB? a vB addon for Joomla or a Joomla addon for vB?
Actually need the PMB system and Community builder of Joomla work with VB for my site http://bbamba.info

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Is it possible? Probably. However its not something that we have attempted nor or likely to attempt. Other solutions are mentioned in this thread that you should follow up with.

[Tigratrus]

If you're looking for bridging accounts between Joomla and vB with Joomla as the master account DB instead of vB, you might want to look at jFusion.org. Much better bridge than the BBPixel or the Duo-Sync.

Personally I VASTLY prefer JomSocial to Community Builder, but if it's an established site, ::shrug:: you have to go with what you've got.

Seriously though, check out jFusion, it's a fundamentally superior bridging system. It can also bridge to Magento, Moodle, as well as other forum systems. Very object oriented, and it makes no core edits to any of the systems involved, fully plugin based.

We use vBulletin, Joomla!, Wordpress and about to add phpMyDirectory on our site (www.ikeafans.com if you want to see the results), integrating them isn't that hard, just takes work.

James and Susan

[kmatwill]

If you're looking for bridging accounts between Joomla and vB with Joomla as the master account DB instead of vB, you might want to look at jFusion.org. Much better bridge than the BBPixel or the Duo-Sync.

Personally I VASTLY prefer JomSocial to Community Builder, but if it's an established site, ::shrug:: you have to go with what you've got.

Seriously though, check out jFusion, it's a fundamentally superior bridging system. It can also bridge to Magento, Moodle, as well as other forum systems. Very object oriented, and it makes no core edits to any of the systems involved, fully plugin based.

We use vBulletin, Joomla!, Wordpress and about to add phpMyDirectory on our site (www.ikeafans.com if you want to see the results), integrating them isn't that hard, just takes work.

James and Susan

JFusion looks very cool, but does it use that header shown in the demo (http://jfusion.org/index.php/forums/index.php) or can you use the joomla login module?

Also, my problem is that I used bbpixel, but it only sync'd about half of my users. I'd like to keep the bbpixel stuff because it's already installed, but I do want to use jfusion to sync up all of the users that bbpixel missed. thoughts?