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Magento EE is "under lock and key" per-se when it comes to it's source code being generally available, and by that I mean that only those who have purchased licenses for it and/or are employed by a partner company will have access to it's code. In some cases this will go beyond just the source code, but there are (perhaps) minor features which are not published via the marketing material and/or the EE user guide.

This being the case, should questions specifically related to EE functionality, configuration, development, etc be allowed here?

I table this for discussion as it came to mind when I was considering submitting an example question of: "What methods are available to differentiate between CE and EE? I.e. for cross-version compatible modules, etc."

Proposal: Magento

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My proposed answer to this question would be: Yes, they should be allowed. Just as long as the questions and answers do not include material copied from Magento Enterprise (i.e. not publicly available on magento.com), then they will be fine. Open to any comments on the feasibility and/or prudence of this! Any other opinions?

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    A good point. Including source code from EE namespace should be proscribed. I haven't noticed this being an issue on SO yet, but it will happen at some point.
    – benmarks
    Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 11:23
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Back when StackOverflow first launched and Apple was trying to enforce their "you can't talk to anyone about anything in the iOS frameworks" policy, StackOverflow became a de-facto place for people to get their iOS framework answers.

So I'd say yes, and I'd go further and say we shouldn't be too concerned with posting small snippets of Enterprise Edition code if it helps get the question answered, so long as the amount of code posted doesn't allow the simple recreation of enterprise edition features by non-licensed users.

(We are, of course, in the weird grey area of copyright law where lawyers have a field-day, so don't take anything I've said here as encouragement to violate any agreement you may/may-not have with eBay/Magento etc.)

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    It will be interesting to see. Sandy Godsey gave an impromptu presentation on IP and other topics to a dev class I taught back in Jan 2012. eBay is definitely aware of protecting their IP. However, they seem to be balancing this against supporting the community and keeping the "open" in open source. I have a feeling that their actions will help us establish a policy if we need to.
    – benmarks
    Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 21:51
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    You do know you will now need to define "small snippets" right? BTW, I agree that small snippets should be fine..legal issues aside. And I say that with a qualified should considering I'd have to re-read the license and consult my attorney first! ;)
    – davidalger
    Commented Jan 2, 2013 at 21:53

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