Draft for attorney review. This page is a plain-language explanation of how Punchwell is licensed and how to obtain its source code. It is written for clarity, not as a substitute for the actual license text or for legal advice. It has not yet been reviewed by counsel. Bracketed items like [entity name] are placeholders to be confirmed before publishing. The governing terms are the GNU General Public License itself (linked below) — where this page and the license differ, the license controls.

GPL License & Source Availability

Last updated: [date] • Maintained by: [entity name] (“Sturdyhaus”), an independent third-party maintainer.

Punchwell is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or (at your option) any later version (“GPLv2-or-later”). This page explains, in plain terms, what that means for you, how to get the source code, and how the license relates to our paid Pro updates and support.

If you only read one thing: you can use, study, modify, and share Punchwell freely. What you pay for under a Pro plan is updates, support, and convenience — not permission to use the software.

1. The short version

Punchwell is GPL-licensed software (GPLv2-or-later). This includes the free core and the Pro plugins and add-ons we distribute.
You have the four freedoms the GPL grants: to run it for any purpose, to study and modify its source, to redistribute copies, and to distribute your modified versions — under the same license.
The complete source code is available. The free core lives on the WordPress.org plugin directory, and the full source of any version we distribute to you (free or Pro) is available to you on request. There is no obfuscated, locked, or “compiled-only” Pro tier — WordPress plugins are PHP source.
A paid Punchwell Pro license buys you a service, not a right to use the code: ongoing updates, support, and the convenience of automatic delivery. The code itself remains GPL.
Punchwell is a maintained fork of the GPL-licensed “WP Human Resource Management” plugin. We honor and continue that license. We are an independent maintainer and are not affiliated with the original author or any prior maintainer (see Section 6).

2. Your freedoms under the GPL

The GPL guarantees you four freedoms. In Punchwell’s case, they mean:

1. The freedom to use it for any purpose.
Run Punchwell on as many of your own sites as your plan covers, for any business or personal purpose. The GPL places no field-of-use restrictions on the software itself.

2. The freedom to study how it works and change it.
Punchwell is distributed as readable PHP, JavaScript, and CSS — the same source we develop from (the front-end app bundles are compiled, and the source we build them from is available; see Section 3). You may inspect any part of it and modify it to fit your needs.

3. The freedom to redistribute copies.
You may share Punchwell with others. When you do, the GPL requires that you pass along the same freedoms — including making the corresponding source code available to whoever receives it, and keeping the license and copyright notices intact.

4. The freedom to distribute your modified versions.
You may build on Punchwell and share your changes, provided your distributed version is also licensed under the GPL and you make its source available on the same terms.

These freedoms are part of the software, not something we grant or withhold per customer. They apply to every copy of Punchwell you lawfully receive, including Pro copies.

A note on the “or later” option. Punchwell is GPLv2-or-later, which means you may also use, modify, and redistribute it under the terms of a later GPL version (such as GPLv3) at your option. The full text of GPLv2 is at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html.

3. How to get the source code

WordPress plugins are distributed as source already — installing Punchwell puts its PHP, JavaScript, and CSS files into your site’s wp-content/plugins/ directory, where you can read and edit them. Beyond that:

Free core (Community edition)

Available on the WordPress.org plugin directory at [WordPress.org plugin URL]. Download the .zip, or browse the source in the directory’s source viewer / public repository at [public source repository URL].

Pro plugins and add-ons

The complete, corresponding source code for any Pro version we have distributed to you is available to you, as a recipient of that version, at no additional charge. You can already read it in your wp-content/plugins/ directory after installing. If you would also like a clean source archive of a specific version, request it at [source-request email/address] and we will provide it.
We make source available to those we have distributed the software to, consistent with the GPL. We are not obligated to distribute Pro builds to the general public, and offering paid Pro plans is fully compatible with the GPL.

Build tooling

Where a component is compiled before distribution (for example, the front-end application bundle), the human-readable source and the scripts used to build it are included in or available with the source archive, so you can reproduce the build yourself.

If you have trouble obtaining source for any version you received from us, contact [source-request email/address] and we will make it right.

4. What a Pro plan pays for (and what it doesn’t)

This is the most common GPL question, so here it is plainly:

Your Pro license does not buy the right to use the software. The GPL already gives you that right, for free. Charging money for GPL software is allowed by the license — what we charge for is the surrounding service and convenience:

Updates — ongoing maintenance, security fixes, compatibility work, and new features, delivered while your license is active.
Support — help from the people who maintain the code.
Convenience — packaged Pro bundles and automatic update delivery to your dashboard. [Note: confirm the automatic-update/license channel is live before describing it as a current feature.]

Because the code is GPL:

If your license lapses, you keep the plugin and every record. You stop receiving new updates and support, but the version you have continues to run, and your data stays in your own WordPress database. You are never locked out of software you already installed.
You are never held hostage by a disappearing vendor. The GPL is exactly why a maintained fork like Punchwell can exist at all — see Section 6.
We may place reasonable terms on the service — for example, how many sites a plan covers, or how support is provided — through a separate Terms of Service / EULA. Those terms govern the commercial relationship and our services; they do not and cannot reduce the GPL freedoms attached to the code you receive.

In short: the GPL covers the code; your plan covers the service. Both can be true at once, and they are.

5. If you modify or redistribute Punchwell

You are welcome to. A few practical reminders so you stay within the license:

Keep the freedoms attached. Any version you distribute must also be GPL-licensed, with source made available to your recipients on the same terms.
Preserve notices. Keep the existing copyright and license notices intact, and note significant changes you make.
Trademarks are separate from copyright. The GPL covers the code. It does not grant rights to our brand names, logos, or trademarks. If you redistribute a modified version, please do not call it “Punchwell” or use Sturdyhaus branding in a way that implies it is our official release or that we endorse or support it. Rebrand your fork under your own name. (This mirrors how we treat the upstream project — see below.)
No added restrictions. You may not impose terms on recipients beyond what the GPL allows.

6. Attribution: this is a fork

Punchwell is a maintained, security-hardened fork of the GPL-licensed “WP Human Resource Management” plugin (WordPress.org slug hrm), originally authored by Asaquzzaman Mishu and previously associated with wpspear. The original plugin was removed from the WordPress.org plugin directory in 2025 and is no longer maintained by its original author.

We are able to continue this software precisely because it is GPL. The license is what lets an independent maintainer pick up an abandoned project, fix it, and keep it alive for the people who depend on it — without anyone’s permission and without taking it away from anyone. We continue to license Punchwell under the same GPLv2-or-later terms, and we preserve the upstream copyright and license notices in the source.

Nominative use / no affiliation. “WP Human Resource Management” and any other product or company names on this page are referenced descriptively only, to identify the software’s lineage and help affected users find a maintained alternative. Sturdyhaus / Punchwell is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Asaquzzaman Mishu, wpspear, weDevs, or any other prior author or maintainer. All third-party names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

7. License text & where to read more

The license that governs Punchwell: GNU General Public License, version 2 — https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html (you may also use any later version at your option).
A copy of the license ships with the plugin and is included in the source archive.
A plain-English summary of the GPL from the Free Software Foundation: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html.

If anything on this page conflicts with the actual text of the GNU General Public License, the license text controls.

8. Questions

Source code requests: [source-request email/address]
General / legal contact: [entity name], [registered address] — [contact email]
Governing law / jurisdiction for the commercial relationship: as set out in our Terms of Service [jurisdiction — to be confirmed].

Punchwell, by Sturdyhaus. Independent GPL fork. Not affiliated with wpspear, weDevs, or the original author. Product names referenced descriptively only.

This page is informational and a draft pending legal review; it is not legal advice and does not modify the GNU General Public License or your rights under it.

GPL License & Source Availability — Punchwell