Re: gnome-multimedia digest, Vol 1 #99 - 1 msg

[Aaron Buckner <aaron buckner cicada us>]

Christian, 

Very interesting.  I think moving to the LGPL makes sense, theoretically.  However, stating that your goals are to work with non-free code might scare some people who read this.

Can you give another example?  Some of the benefits we might see by implementing a change to the LGPL?  I'm assuming it will be all the easier to access Realvideo and WMA content if that change is made?

-a-




On Thu, 2003-06-26 at 12:00, gnome-multimedia-request gnome org wrote:
> Send gnome-multimedia mailing list submissions to
> 	gnome-multimedia gnome org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> 	http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-multimedia
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> 	gnome-multimedia-request gnome org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> 	gnome-multimedia-admin gnome org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of gnome-multimedia digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. GStreamer applications and  change of licensing (Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller)
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 1
> Subject: GStreamer applications and  change of licensing
> From: Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller <Uraeus linuxrising org>
> To: gstreamer-devel lists sourceforge net, gnome-multimedia gnome org
> Date: 25 Jun 2003 23:19:47 +0200
>
> Hi everyone,
> We did some discussing during GUADEC what it would take to allow people
> to legally distribute multimedia applications. Some of this discussion
> we did in the context of Red Hat not shipping mp3 currently. It turns
> out that one of the major reasons for Red Hat not shipping mp3 support
> in their distribution is not so much the unclarity of the mp3 licensing
> terms (altough that is a part of it), but the fact that it is illegal
> according to the GPL. The GPL clearly states clearly in its section 7
> and 8 that you can not distribute the application if there is a patent
> or similar that hinders you to meet all the obligations of the GPL.
>
> This means that for a distribution it is not permitted according to the
> GPL to link applications to a library that contains patented code.
>
> So what is the solution to this?
>
> Well first of all we want to change the license of all current GStreamer
> based apps to the LGPL. That would solve the problem of using these
> applications with non-free code, which code relating to patented stuff
> unfortunatly are in some cornerns of the world (no matter the licensing
> of the actuall code in question.)
>
> We will also mail around to the authors of the libraries, that are under
> the GPL or LGPL, and ask them to add a clause to the license saying that
> they give an exception for accessing to non-free stuff.
>
> Although you could say that it would be strange if the author of a GPL
> mp3 decoding library did not want you to be able to use his code to
> playback mp3 it would be more legally correct if the license actually
> stated it.
>
> So I hope that all maintainers of GStreamer and GNOME multimedia
> applications that read this will take steps to relicense their
> applications under the LGPL if their applications are meant to be used
> with non-free media formats. Any people who have contributed patches to
> said applications are also asked to mail the maintainer giving your
> permission for the relicense (and please do CC the mail to me).
>
> I will try to keep tabs on the relicensing effort and tap maintainers on
> the shoulders to get it done :)
>
> I know that this move might be seen as controversial by some, and I
> welcome any discussion of it.
>
> Christian