[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #16898: Fix plugins about page license requirement

[WordPress Trac]

#16898: Fix plugins about page license requirement
--------------------------------+----------------------------
 Reporter:  scribu              |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request     |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal              |   Milestone:  WordPress.org
Component:  WordPress.org site  |     Version:
 Severity:  normal              |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                      |
--------------------------------+----------------------------

Comment (by KatePhiz):

 The rule that plugins cannot dial home for images is a major obstacle -
 and saying that exceptions will be made to domains the WP Devs know is
 just not one.  How is a plugin developer supposed to know what URLs a WP
 Dev knows and which they don't?

 I wish to develop a plugin to display ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.  I
 will probably release a lite one soon - about 10Mb.  That covers the core
 700 glyphs.

 Now I would like to release one that covers the 10,000 plus glyphs and add
 multiple "font faces" (to use the modern equivalent).  I estimate a full
 plugin would be 200Mb if it contained all the images.

 So the sensible thing would be for it to dial home (on a subscription
 basis like Akismet to cover hosting charges) to access the precise images
 needed for the page.  I can then ship a compact plugin of under 1Mb.
 GPLv2 isn't an issue - everything is GPLv2.  The problem is the Repo
 rules.

 So in order to meet Repo rules I will need to publish a massively bloated
 200Mb plugin instead of one which is under 1Mb.  That is impractical.

 Plugins need to be able to dial home for images.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/16898#comment:49>
WordPress Trac <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress blogging software