I've been having lots of fun lately modifying my open source forumware. So far, I've added a gallery, a calendar, a "topics ratings" system, and the ability to let users upload a photo into their profile. I've discovered that once I ventured into mod land, I couldn't stop--Something about modifying all those files and making the ware do something nice and unexpected is pretty thrilling. Plus, I feel I'm learning about programming in the same way someone painting by numbers learns about art..
Anyway, I got to thinking about what it means to "hack" open source software. Sites like phpbbhacks.com seem to offer nearly unlimited tweaks, modifications, and pre-packaged "hacked" versions of popular open-source ware. Of course, by definition, these open-source projects are open to such modification, but at what point does phpbb2 get SO modified that it's no longer reasonable to call it phpbb2? What I'm getting at here is, how radically can I alter an open-source ware before it becomes my "own" work? It's an interesting question, and I'm not really sure where to start answering it.
On a side note, I've been posting requests all over the phpbb mod forums for a phpbb2-integrated wiki. I'm almost tempted to start doing one myself!
hacking open source
"Of course, by definition, these open-source projects are open to such modification, but at what point does phpbb2 get SO modified that it's no longer reasonable to call it phpbb2?"
Well, first, I would say that it's no longer phpbb2 once you fork it, once you begin a separate open source collaborative project. See, I think what you are doing here is thinking of phpbb2 as a piece of software instead of as a collaborative project. Phpbb2 is the community of users--core developers, outside module developers, and people who do not contribute to software development but use the software--the different hacks that they try, and the standard core modules and add-on modules. In fact, the hacks and user-submitted add-on modules are where experimentation occurs, where "rough drafts" are produced which may or may not make it into the core. What's occuring on the periphery is important: it has the potential to affect the directions in which the community moves in development and what the standard version of the product looks like.
"What I'm getting at here is, how radically can I alter an open-source ware before it becomes my "own" work?"
From an open source perspective, perhaps it's never your own work, just your contributions to a large collaborative project (its GNU GPL'd, right?). And to pose another question, are such contributions meaningful unless they get contributed back, unless they make it into the core, suggest other revisions or changes to the core, or are used by other community members?