FORUMS - certain facts and questions with respect to everyone

open source; language used; source code available; expandibility....

Respected people here,

I am fully aware that there is an old age contoversy as regards phpbb; vbulletin; sm forum; IPB;

I dont want to raise any controversy but just want answers to few questions:

# OUT of Phpbb; vbulletin; simple machines and invision power board:


Q1. Which is open source (meaning whose source code is freely available).....????

Q2. Which requires paying money but with source code...?????

Q2. What language and database each one of them use....?????

I would really really appreciate if someone can reply to all my three questions with respect to all four forums that i have said above....!!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance

Best regards,

sunando

phpBB is 100% open source
vB costs money and technically you get the source.
All of them use mysql but some have extras such as mssql, postgresql, msaccess, etc

HI BUDDY...

thanks for ur reply...its appreciated...but then it was NOT complete

would be really happy if some knowledgeable geek can really answer to all of the questions in the light of all the forums...????

vB costs money and technically you get the source.

what do u mean by the term my friend "technically" u get the source...i mean in reality do we get it or not...???

thanks nonetheless for taking effort to reply...

waiting for some knowledgeable guru to answer to a normal user like me... :cry:

Technically, you get a product that has source code, and you can view it. However, it does not fall into the category of "open source" because you really don't have much freedom with it -- it has a restrictive license. Also, supposedly they have begun to "obfusicate" their code, so that even though you can read it, it's deliberately unfriendly to programmers. I don't know if that is true, it's just something I read from another poster here last night.

IPB is the same, I think -- you pay but then get source code. phpBB can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, and one other which I've forgotten. I think all of them use PHP nowdays, don't they?

-Tony

The vBulletin uses PHP and MySql primarily. You can view its source and make changes to it, but you are limited to what you can legally do with it. So for that reason, it's not technically open-source.

PHPBB is open-source, uses PHP and MySql by default

YaBBSE Simple Machines Forum is certainly open-source and uses PHP and MySql by default as well.

Invision Power board uses PHP and Mysql, but i'm not completely sure about its source. I believe you have to purchase it and with that being the case, it's liable to have restrictions much like vBulletin.

All of these can be used with other sql's but from what I've seen, all are MySql by default.

Most people base their decision upon 3 factors:

1. Do I have the money/desire to purchase the software?
2. How easy will this be to set up, customize, and use?
3. What kind of support and help can I get when things go wrong?

Or course, there are several other things to consider, but from reading many posts across many different forums, those seem to be the most common. I hope this has helped you in some way.
Btw, I use SMF for my forum. It has a lot of features, was easy to modify and install, and has been very stable ever since I installed it.

-Smitty

Uhhh...wait....it costs money to make a forum?

YES! you cant just have free webspace unless you want ad's then its free. The only powerfull free ones i know of are phpbbfor free and invision free, but they dont give you as much or the ability to alter things as the paid forums do

Then I'll just go with an invisionfree power board.

Erm, strictly speaking SMF isn't open source though it's free. It has a license which doesn't allow you to redistribute it. Though, to be honest I don't the know the in's and out's of it.