Editing Links in the Footer of WordPress Themes with Base64 Encrypted Code?

Question

Some WordPress themes have their links encrypted in the footer and I am not able to edit them if I want to edit the links. This is the example code I found:

<?php eval(base64_decode('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'));?>

Does any one know how to find the footer link we want from them and edit them?

Answer 1

Well, this is the output from that function:

?>      

        <div class="clear"></div>



    </div>

    <!-- /Main -->



    <!-- Footer -->

    <div id="footer">

    <?php the_time('Y'); ?> <?php bloginfo('name'); ?> .  WordPress . <?php if(is_home()) : ?><a href="http://wordpressthemesforfree.com/" title="Wordpress themes">Wordpress themes</a><?php endif; ?></div>

    <!-- Footer -->



</div></div></div>

<!-- /Page -->





<?php wp_footer(); ?>
</body>



</html> <?

So, if you want to get rid of that base64 encoded line, and use this, do it. I think that was just their way of keeping total non-programmers from messing with the attribution links. If the theme is GPL licensed, then you are under no obligation to keep any part of that code there.

And there's a pretty strong case to be made that themes are GPL by their very nature (which is not to say the other side doesn't have strong arguments too. However, as Mike pointed out in the comments, this question will not be answered until someone litigates, so let's just leave that whole argument out of this question).

EDIT

To get the above output, I did this:

<pre>
<?php

$out = base64_decode('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');

echo str_replace( '<', '&lt;', $out );

?>
</pre>

Answer 2

The technical answer is: Remove the eval code from the theme and replace it with your own one. Or debug the eval code, but I assume that's out of your scope.

The realistic answer I would give is that you should consider to decide to not get fooled any longer (and to not bother others with that crap you downloaded). Get a real theme with clean code and not such a pile of shit. Are you interested for how that shit is licensed? I am not! Just trash it and start a real life and site.

Answer 3

By the way, I've seen Base64 show up where it never belonged. The result of a hack. I use a number of themes and have more on my home drive than I'll ever use, and none have it as part of their code. I suggest you go back to the theme itself before you loaded it, or if you instated through the admin page and not through FTP, find it on the developer's site and download. See if it's there (the base64). If not, you've been hacked.