[haiku-development] Aw: FFmpeg and licensing

  • From: "Stephan Assmus" <superstippi@xxxxxx>
  • To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 17:16:37 +0200

Hi Augustin,

"Augustin Cavalier" <waddlesplash@xxxxxxxxx>
> Currently, we build FFmpeg with none of their licensing options [1]. A 
> lot of their codecs are under the LGPL or GPL. I understand that since 
> Haiku has proprietary software using our media libraries (e.g. 
> TuneTracker), we shouldn't enable GPL'd code. However, does anyone see a 
> reason why we can't enable LGPL'd code?

I don't see any reason not to change the ffmpeg receipe to include GPL and LGPL 
codecs.

The GPL affects code that is distributed together on a single distribution 
medium. Even then the medium may contain separate works that are independent 
from each other. The GPLv2 calls this "aggregation".

If the project publishes a Haiku distribution which includes GPL'd ffmpeg 
libraries, then the only code which /can/ be affected is the code for anything 
on that media and even then it may be aggregation depending on how it is 
represented to the user. The media kit does not depend on ffmpeg to be 
functional, it has its own add-on API. If the ffmpeg plugin can be separately 
installed and can be recognized as independent by the user and if the user is 
made aware of her rights under the GPL, then there is no GPL violation (version 
2 is what I researched).

If TuneTracker makes a Haiku distribution, it also depends on how such an 
ffmpeg library is represented. For example, it would be enough to make the 
GPL'd library optional at install time for it to be aggregation and not a 
combined work. It's the responsibility of TuneTracker in any case to follow all 
licenses of the code which they distribute.

Best regards,
-Stephan

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