I am considering running a web hosting business where I will offer cookie-cutter websites for a niche market. For this purpose, I am considering using WordPress, which is GPL software.

However, I would need to make modifications to the source code in order to add some extra functionality, change some screens, etc. My question is... am I required to release the source code for these modifications?

My first instinct was "yes", but after reading the license (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html), I don't see that this is actually covered. If I were going to make my program available for download, then I'd be required to make the source available, but I'm not doing that; I'm using the program on my own server for my own purposes.

I can't find an answer to this in the GPL FAQ either. I'm a supporter of free/open source software, and often donate to open source projects which I make money off of (such as CentOS), but I don't want to give away my modifications in this case since it would allow others to directly compete with me.

If you're not selling or otherwise distributing the final product I wouldn't worry about it. The odds of Richard Stallman showing up on anybody's doorstep with a pack of lawyers are pretty slim, and if by some chance he decides to try, you should be able to smell him coming from a mile away and duck out the back.

I am considering running a web hosting business where I will offer cookie-cutter websites for a niche market. For this purpose, I am considering using WordPress, which is GPL software.

However, I would need to make modifications to the source code in order to add some extra functionality, change some screens, etc. My question is... am I required to release the source code for these modifications?

My first instinct was "yes", but after reading the license (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html), I don't see that this is actually covered. If I were going to make my program available for download, then I'd be required to make the source available, but I'm not doing that; I'm using the program on my own server for my own purposes.

I can't find an answer to this in the GPL FAQ either. I'm a supporter of free/open source software, and often donate to open source projects which I make money off of (such as CentOS), but I don't want to give away my modifications in this case since it would allow others to directly compete with me.

If you create an account for the user and then put those files in the users account which they can access by FTP, I believe most would consider this distribution.

However, the beauty of php and such, is that once you have done this, your obligation is fulfilled. You have provided the source with the program, and are under no further requirements. Does this mean others could sign up, download the scripts, and use it on their own? Yes.

If you wanted to get around this, you would have to ensure you are not distributing the source at all to your end user, which of course means they would have a very limited ability to modify it further, as they wouldn't have access to do so.

If you put it in the user's own accessible directory structure, and encode your modifications, however, this would violate the GPL, unless you provided unencoded versions of the modified files to the users upon request.

This isn't legal advise technically, and I'm 100% sure I'm not a lawyer, but distribution is a pretty basic idea we all should be able to grasp rather well. :)

If you wanted to get around this, you would have to ensure you are not distributing the source at all to your end user, which of course means they would have a very limited ability to modify it further, as they wouldn't have access to do so.

Thanks WO-Jacob. What you describe here is indeed what I want to do. I will be serving users with little to no technical knowledge, and I don't even want the PHP code accessible to them. They won't be buying hosting in the traditional sense so much as the ability to quickly set up a site with no technical ability.

So it sounds here that my understanding is correct, or at least in line with others' interpretation...