[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] LICENSE: correct incorrect claims on *GPL incompatibility

Michael Bradshaw mbradshaw at sorensonmedia.com
Wed Aug 15 19:19:46 CEST 2012


On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at> wrote:
> There are currently no statements from any person qualified in the art
> of law about the LGPL compatibility of the libfaac license and others.
> Furthermore their is no consensus about their compatibility amongth
> people not qualified in the art.
>
> Also of interrest may be that ubuntu distributes and links libfaac
> to LGPL code. And the ubuntu technical comittee decision about libfaac
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/technical-board/2011-February/000703.html
>
> Comments and other viewpoints, especially if i have missed something
> are very welcome!
>
> Signed-off-by: Michael Niedermayer <michaelni at gmx.at>
> ---
>  LICENSE |   13 ++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
> index 7dff535..3810796 100644
> --- a/LICENSE
> +++ b/LICENSE
> @@ -71,8 +71,11 @@ license version needs to be upgraded by passing --enable-version3 to configure.
>  incompatible libraries
>  ----------------------
>
> -The Fraunhofer AAC library, FAAC and aacplus are under licenses incompatible
> -with all (L)GPL versions. Thus, unfortunately, since both licenses cannot be
> -satisfied simultaneously, binaries resulting from the combination of FFmpeg
> -with these libraries are nonfree und unredistributable. If you wish to enable
> -any of these libraries nonetheless, pass --enable-nonfree to configure.
> +The Fraunhofer AAC library, FAAC and aacplus are under licenses which
> +are incompatible with the GPLv2 and v3. We do not know for certain if their
> +licenses are compatible with the LGPL.
> +If you wish to enable these libraries, pass --enable-nonfree to configure.
> +But note that if you enable any of these libraries the resulting binary will
> +be under a complex license mix that is more restrictive than the LGPL and that
> +may result in additional obligations. And it is possible that these

nit: It should either be "...additional obligations, and it is..." or
"...additional obligations. It is..."


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