Is is possible to enable OpenID in an SMF forum?
June 25th, 2008
I own and admin several sites. I have a new forum site running Simple Machines Forum that I would like to open up to allow comments and/or account creation to users of OpenID. Has anyone out there done this? I’ve searched Google, the SMF documentation and so on. I have found lots of interest out there, but no implementations yet.
Before I start thinking about creating the time and figuring this out myself, I would rather conserve my energy and see if there is anyone out there that knows how, or has already done this.
Entry Filed under: General
8 Comments Add your own
1. Dread Knight | June 25th, 2008 at 11:37 am
You should ask on the official SMF forums and check the mod db.
As far as i can tell, so far forum boards are not very OpenID friendly; just my 2 cents. (too bad smf is not open source…)
2. matthew | June 25th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Not open source? What are you talking about? It is a free download, consists of html, php and css files. There isn’t a binary in the bunch. Anyone can read the source code…
Read for yourself: http://www.simplemachines.org/about/opensource.php
3. Jacob Peddicord | June 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
metthew: I think he means non-open-source by the fact that redistribution of SMF and associated mods is not allowed. Kind of a “here’s our code, but you aren’t allowed to share” attitude.
4. matthew | June 25th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Jacob: okay, that’s a fair point.
Also, I forgot to say “thank you” to Dread Knight for the ideas he shared. Thanks, DK.
5. verb | June 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
It is strange that an Ubuntu member doesn’t even bother to look at licenses of software before using it
You’re not allowed to modify and redistribute this forum system. It’s restricted. It feels gloomy.
6. matthew | June 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I actually read and understood the license before I installed the software. I am fine with the terms. If I wasn’t, I would have used something else.
Freedom also means the freedom for content creators to be able to limit the use of their content if they choose to do so. I might choose to release things I create using the GPL or a Creative Commons license, but I do not feel a need to legislate that others do the same, nor do I think that this needs to limit what I use in all cases.
One who is secure in his beliefs feels no need to force those beliefs on others.
Oh, and it isn’t as evil as it sounds. You can modify the system all you want, you just can’t redistribute the modifications. If you think they are worth distributing, you can do so within the system the software authors set up–as a plugin or by submitting code to the developers for possible inclusion in future releases.
7. Michael "Oldiesmann" Eshom | June 26th, 2008 at 12:47 am
OpenID support is a default feature in SMF 2.0
As far as modifications - you are free to distribute them as a mod (see our site for more info) - you just can’t redistribute the forum software itself (modified or otherwise).
Michael “Oldiesmann” Eshom
Project Manager, Simple Machines
oldiesmann@simplemachines.org
8. matthew | June 26th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Michael: that is great news! Thank you. I will definitely upgrade when 2.0 is released…sooner if I have time to test the beta on a sandbox for a while.
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