Plugin authors in directory that sell non-GPL plugins

It is not written down anywhere but it seems to be common knowledge that this is the case.

If it’s common knowledge, it would be interesting to see that talked about anywhere–even on some blog.

If you want your theme to be proprietary or promote things that violate WordPress’ license on your site, the directory probably isn’t the best home for your work.

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/about/

Its talked about every know and then. The themes removal was part of it. A bunch of people that linked to non-GPL themes on their homepages was pulled from the repository. Of course some were violating the rules of the repository too but not everyone concerned. Got this old post about it:https://spectacu.la/wordpressorg-pull-200-gpl-themes/

Thanks for that. Now I see what you are saying. I guess it’s part of the argument that any WordPress theme probably uses code that is already GPL. I do know there are plugins where the author has a version in the repository and then ‘for sale’ plugins on their site (e.g. WP e-Commerce).

Well based on this thread https://lists.automattic.com/pipermail/wp-hackers/2010-March/030572.html it would seem like plugin authors are held to the standard you mentioned.

Seem I want to include my own designed WordPress theme to www.ads-software.com, do I need to make it becomes GPL license?

do I need to make it becomes GPL license

Yes (Wait, what do you mean by include? You want it included in the WP theme directory? Then yes, it must be GPL)