@openmtbmap - I agree with your assessment. The Pro software is split license. I have a number of clients using S2Member and I will need to fork and fix based on the basic open source version. I had to do this before when my theme provider MySiteMyWay walked away from their business and community so I can attest that a path forward is doable.
s2Member's future
For what it’s worth unless otherwise specified I believe both s2member and s2member-pro are both released under the GNU General Public License v2 which specifically does allow a licence fee to be charged for software. An old example of this is the old CMS system phpnuke, as can be read on its wikipedia page.
PHP-Nuke was originally released under the GNU General Public License as free software. Versions after 7.5 required a license fee; from version 8.3 it became free again. This is permitted under the GNU GPL (providing the source code is included), and the purchaser of the software has the right to freely distribute the source code of the product. Burzi no longer owns the PHP-Nuke site.
On reading the GNU General Public License wikipedia article this is made explicitly clear.
Below is the header section of the \wp-content\plugins\s2member\s2member.php file as example of s2’s licence.
If anyone has any other evidence of a licence that supersedes the version 170722 then please post a reply, otherwise I suggest this topic is closed and marked as resolved.
Gerard
<?php
// @codingStandardsIgnoreFile
/**
* The main plugin file.
*
* This file loads the plugin after checking
* PHP, WordPress and other compatibility requirements.
*
* Copyright: © 2009-2011
* {@link http://websharks-inc.com/ WebSharks, Inc.}
* (coded in the USA)
*
* Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License,
* along with this software. In the main directory, see: /licensing/
* If not, see: {@link http://www.gnu.org/licenses/}.
*
* @package s2Member
* @since 1.0
*/
/* -- This section for WordPress parsing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version: 170722
Stable tag: 170722
wp-content\plugins\s2member-pro\pro-module.php
<?php
// @codingStandardsIgnoreFile
/**
* The main plugin file.
*
* This file loads the plugin after checking
* PHP, WordPress and other compatibility requirements.
*
* Copyright: © 2009-2011
* {@link http://websharks-inc.com/ WebSharks, Inc.}
* (coded in the USA)
*
* This WordPress plugin (s2Member Pro) is comprised of two parts:
*
* o (1) Its PHP code is licensed under the GPL license, as is WordPress.
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License,
* along with this software. In the main directory, see: /licensing/
* If not, see: {@link http://www.gnu.org/licenses/}.
*
* o (2) All other parts of (s2Member Pro); including, but not limited to:
* the CSS code, some JavaScript code, images, and design;
* are licensed according to the license purchased.
* See: {@link http://s2member.com/prices/}
*
* Unless you have our prior written consent, you must NOT directly or indirectly license,
* sub-license, sell, resell, or provide for free; part (2) of the s2Member Pro Add-on;
* or make an offer to do any of these things. All of these things are strictly
* prohibited with part (2) of the s2Member Pro Add-on.
*
* Your purchase of s2Member Pro includes free lifetime upgrades via s2Member.com
* (i.e., new features, bug fixes, updates, improvements); along with full access
* to our video tutorial library: {@link http://s2member.com/videos/}
*
* @package s2Member
* @since 1.0
*/Hi @Gerard.
Your post clearly displays the split-license clause…
“(2) All other parts of (s2Member Pro); including, but not limited to: the CSS code, some JavaScript code, images, and design; are licensed according to the license purchased. See: {@link http://s2member.com/prices/}”.
The reference to PHP-Nuke is immaterial. It does not relate to this situation as it is a re-license by the copyright holder. It would only relate here if S2Member publicly re-licensed S2Member-Pro to be fully GPL (which they haven’t and are unlikely to do). See Artifex Software v. Hancom (https://opensource.com/article/18/2/top-10-open-source-legal-stories-shook-2017 ).
Please don’t consider this a rebuttal of your post. You are certainly free to have an opinion that is glass half-full. I am not a lawyer but base my views on 35 years in the computing business including 4 patents, 1 defended patent claim, and 100+ contract negotiations as a senior R&D manager in two multi-nationals and 3 VC spin-out attempts.
Right or wrong, the interpretation of the licenses I will be following is as follows:
The basic S2Member distributed via WordPress.org is forkable. The S2Member Pro PHP is forkable but the non-PHP S2Member Pro files are out of the picture…they are proprietary, including the Pro API (since the Oracle / Google decision).
In two weeks I will publish a link to a GitLab fork I will be upgrading and managing for my clients. Anyone who wants to participate or just come along for the ride will be welcome. The fork will only be of the basic S2Member code. I will consider salvaging the S2Member Pro PHP code only after I have considered the probity of re-constructing an HTML / Javascript / CSS layer that does not breach the S2Member license. The S2Member Pro license likely extends to the PRO API (it falls under the term Design) so it is safest to fall back to the S2Member basic and re-design equivalent functionality to the Pro version in a different form (e.g. make an EDD add-on out of S2Member basic code).
2 Likes
Very very interesting.
I’ll certainly have a look 
Thanks Tim!
I’m looking into this, as I still care about s2Member a lot. I messaged Jason and Raam, got replies from both. s2Member isn’t forgotten. I’m considering the possibility of coming back.
3 Likes
Hi,
Cristian, here is some information I hoped to ear, as we thought we were abandoned by the official support s2Member …
I hope your comments will be confirmed.
Thanks.
Hi Christian,
Thank you for being the one person left from the WebSharks crew who cares enough to reach out and communicate with us. It is appreciated.
While I am pleased that you may be considering coming back you may not have much to come back to.
Deployed sites need to be fixed today. The only way to get that done is to fork the basic S2Member code and upgrade it today. So that’s happening next week. No choice.
If I were to use an analogy the S2Member kids were abandoned by WebSharks mom & dad and 2 years later when the kids are grown up and leaving the squat where they have been living off scraps and rainwater an Uncle comes back and says “Maybe I’ll take you in”.
I can only speak for myself, others may be willing to keep waiting, I can’t wait…no choice…sites are broken.
If you are rejuvenating S2Member you need to commit and provide a timeline and some guidance as to where S2Member would go and whether you would be taking ownership. If you are in negotiations…state that.
Otherwise…you are just adding to the problem.
S2Member…Dead or Alive…you pick. A “Maybe” is not acceptable with brokern sites littering the landscape.
Sorry to be blunt but S2Member brand has 0% trust right now and a “Maybe alive” is not helping to start the trust rebuild journey.
Again…Thank you for being the one person left from the WebSharks crew who cares enough to reach out and communicate with us. It is appreciated. There is certainly no ill-will aimed at you as an ex-employee but, as the americans like to say, sh*t or get off the pot
1 Like
One thing that’s unclear to me is who’s currently in charge of the company? Who has the authority to make decisions?
Someone is paying for domain renewals and hosting. The lights are still being kept on.
Cristián ! Great to hear from you again.
You helped me and many of my clients way back when.
Would love it if you rejoined.
I really think you need to bring back paid support, but at a higher price. Weren’t you doing it for something ridiculous like $19/year? It should be 50%-75% of the $89 purchase price. And you should raise that by $10 just for good luck.
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Just to feed rumours: Don’t panic. The plugin will be alive and will be developed. We work on this, but needs some time to run the support again.
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Hi
I think you should implement Download Manager plugin system of prices for s2Member, add new UI and make some changes to the way s2Member protects categories,posts, pages etc.
For example we should be able to protect each category when we edit it there should be a way to select which level of protection for that specific category the same way we can do for single page/post, because there are sites that have allot of posts and categories where to protect by ID is a pain or maybe add a way like for members so we can check them as we desire and set to a specific level all at once.
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I agree that the UI can be improved and I intend to work on that.
You already can change level for users in bulk, though. WP Admin > Users
I have mean to use same bulk method that is used for members to add such for posts and categories.
Thanks for reply, sorry that i write without proper grammar English is not my native. 
Ah ok, you meant it as an example of what the bulk feature could be for category and post restrictions. Okay, I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you!
hey guys, seems s2member and this forum survives! and its feb19 now.
is the developer back in the field?
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Hi,
Yes!!!
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hi Lambert, your comment is eye opening
one question, is it possible to use YITH + S2member to sell custom capabilities but not just role?
Would be great if we got an update …after all the “doom and gloom” about future with S2… …re: the long update provided last year. Clearly things have moved on…
Where?
Hi Andrew.
Things are going well! There have been a couple of releases, I’m getting ready a new one, and users are getting help.
2 Likes
Yes, I concur… I have installed S2 on new dev site went through all of my setup and alot of custom capabilities, etc… and all seems fine so far.
Since CCbill isn’t integrated anymore, I’m using Gravity forms + CCbill form + S2 webhook api for members and capabilities… so far everything is working 100%.
At the moment I’m testing member upgrade / downgrade memberships via CCbill form and notification to S2 api via webhook.
1 Like