I've got a fantastic idea for an site and it involves using the mediawiki script. What's the legalities of heavily modding it and then to sell it later down the line. I don't mean selling the script, but to sell the entire site. Are we allowed to sell it without being sued? Doesn't open source mean that we are free to use it as we like? I swear I read somewhere that you can't use them for commercial use and I don't see anything about licensing mediawiki.
Depends on the license that the script is released under. Generally, you're allowed to sell sites or the script but you have to transfer full rights to the buyer.
Depends on the license type. This will help you explain many licenses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_license Peace,
Most open source licenses would allow you to sell the site, but the script mods themselves have to remain open source. Of course, you can sell your labor to customize open source scripts.
AFAIK, you can sell it but must give full open-source rights to all buyers: Right to give away, and source code.
The the script is under GPL, is anyone familiar with that? What about if we built extensions for mediawiki rather than edit any of the core code. Would that mean we could keep exclusive rights for them even though they're built for a open source script?
1) You can sell a site which uses a GPL script, just make sure you leave the copyright notices intact. 2) Commercial mods are sometimes sold for Mambo/Joomla (for example), you might want to ask questions on their forums, about GPL and Mods.
I have purchased mods before for many open source aplications including oscommerce and have recieved no resale rights or even unrestricted use. The author has specifically told me that they are for use on a single site only. I don't know the rules and regulations but can only pass on my experiences.