The idea of "adoption" is for the benefit of *end users*, who would have a seamless upgrade experience from the old version of the previously abandoned Theme, to the updated version post-adoption.<div><br></div><div>
The GPL poses no issues or problems whatsoever with "adoption"; if anything, the GPL actually facilitates the concept, because it permits modification and redistribution of the code. Bear in mind: the GPL deals with *copyright*, not *trademark*. The Theme upgrade process deals only with Theme name/slug, and as such would be a *trademark* question rather than a *copyright* question.</div>
<div><br></div><div>But I wholeheartedly agree that if the original developer indicates that he does not want the Theme to be "adopted", then as the trademark owner, that decision should be respected.</div><div>
<br></div><div>Themes can be forked right now; no changes needed. While I'm all in favor of making a transition as easy as possible, whatever changes that could be made to the infrastructure in order to tie the *fork* to the *original*, none of those changes would benefit those who need it most: i.e. those who are using the *original* version of the obsolete Theme.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Properly attributed Themes - both originals and forks - wouldn't need any additional header tags in order to indicate the original:fork relationship, because that relationship would be indicated clearly by the copyright/attribution notice.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Chip</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 8:08 PM, Darren Slatten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:darrenslatten@gmail.com">darrenslatten@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Theme adoption seems like it could raise issues with the GPL, regarding the need to clearly distinguish between original code and post-adoption code. I'm guessing not too many Theme developers would appreciate having their name/attribution diluted by the adoption process. Perhaps a better solution would be to allow "forking" a Theme. Details and benefits would be something like this:<br>
<br><ul><li>Add a new style.css key/value pair to define a "Fork of: {$retired_theme_name}" relationship.</li><li>A retired Theme would keep its own attribution and statistics data.</li><li>New Theme would be named something different and effectively treated as an independent Theme (i.e., a retired Theme could be forked by more than one developer).</li>
<li>The "Fork of:" data could be used to trigger a separate kind of update notice--one that makes the distinction between a simple update and a "Under New Management!" update.</li><li>Retired Themes could still be resumed by original authors, even if the Theme has been dormant for awhile (and forked in that time).</li>
<li>WordPress.org could provide aggregate statistics on original+fork downloads.</li><li>Themes could be forked whether they're retired or not.<br></li><li>Users could get a better understanding of how a certain Theme will function (e.g., I'd rather download a Twenty Eleven fork than a Classic fork).</li>
<li>Users could filter their Theme search by origin.<br></li></ul><br>Just throwing some ideas out here...<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Vicky Arulsingam <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:vicky.arulsingam@gmail.com" target="_blank">vicky.arulsingam@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I like this idea a lot, especially allowing other developers to adopt<br>
a theme and bring it up to WP standards.<br>
<br>
Should the original theme author be contacted about their outdated<br>
theme or is it considered forfeit especially since a theme hasn't been<br>
updated in 2 years<br>
<div><div></div><div><br>
On 7/26/11, Edward Caissie <<a href="mailto:edward.caissie@gmail.com" target="_blank">edward.caissie@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> The basic premise I have always tried to champion is moving the "older"<br>
> themes into a secondary repository so they are not lost but are obviously<br>
> shown as "out-of-date"<br>
><br>
> There are many older themes that can be easily brought up to current<br>
> standards but the original author's are no longer interested in updating<br>
> and/or involved with WordPress.<br>
><br>
> I would like to see these themes simply moved, then after another arbitrary<br>
> time limit made available to be adopted by a new author. I have put forward<br>
> this idea at least once before and still see it as having a great deal of<br>
> potential (aside from all necessary changes to the repository to make it<br>
> work).<br>
><br>
><br>
> Cais.<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 4:15 PM, Claude Needham <<a href="mailto:gxxaxx@gmail.com" target="_blank">gxxaxx@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Angelo Bertolli<br>
>> <<a href="mailto:angelo.bertolli@gmail.com" target="_blank">angelo.bertolli@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> > Why not just have a "works with version X" selection for users like on<br>
>> > the plugin side? Then the users could decide what was working, and<br>
>> > things could be pruned accordingly.<br>
>> ><br>
>> If a theme seriously does not work with the current version of<br>
>> wordpress, it should be retired.<br>
>> I am assuming that we are trying to encourage people to work with the<br>
>> latest release that they can.<br>
>><br>
>> I have been in situations where a plugin that I relied upon had not<br>
>> been updated yet. (A shopping cart).<br>
>> But if I need an old obsolete theme -- I probably already have it<br>
>> installed on my site.<br>
>><br>
>> If I am theme hunting, it would be very disappointing to dl a theme<br>
>> from wporg that is obsolete under the most current core.<br>
>><br>
>> Just my thoughts,<br>
>> Claude Needham<br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> theme-reviewers mailing list<br>
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>><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
</div></div>--<br>
-----<br>
<font color="#888888">Vicky Arulsingam<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div></div></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><font color="#888888">Darren Slatten<br><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>