[FFmpeg-devel] license violator seeking help to continue his behavior

[Karl Blomster]

Patrice Bensoussan wrote:
> 
> On 25 Jun 2009, at 01:39, Karl Blomster wrote:
> 
>> Patrice Bensoussan wrote:
>>> On 25 Jun 2009, at 00:24, Diego Biurrun wrote:
>>>> On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 11:12:05PM +0100, Patrice Bensoussan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to compile ffmpeg for ppc so that it can run on both G3 and
>>>>> G4 (using altivec with G4). It seems that --enable-runtime-cpudetect
>>>>> option has been introduced recently in configure, so I assume it would
>>>>> be the option to use to achieve what I want to do... but doesn't seem
>>>>> to work... Am I missing something or is this a known issue/limitation?
>>>>>
>>>>> /Users/patriceb/tmp/WMA/ffmpeg/libswscale/swscale.c: In function
>>>>> ?getSwsFunc?:
>>>>> /Users/patriceb/tmp/WMA/ffmpeg/libswscale/swscale.c:2001: warning:
>>>>> implicit declaration of function ?sws_init_swScale_C?
>>>>> /Users/patriceb/tmp/WMA/ffmpeg/libswscale/swscale.c:2002: error:
>>>>> ?swScale_C? undeclared (first use in this function)
>>>>> /Users/patriceb/tmp/WMA/ffmpeg/libswscale/swscale.c:2002: error: (Each
>>>>> undeclared identifier is reported only once
>>>>> /Users/patriceb/tmp/WMA/ffmpeg/libswscale/swscale.c:2002: error: for
>>>>> each function it appears in.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is my configure line (I am compiling on an Intel Mac for PPC, not
>>>>> sure if this matters in this case...):
>>>>> (notice that it compiles fine for Intel, so issue seems to be ppc
>>>>> specific...)
>>>>>
>>>>> configure --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-nonfree --disable-bzlib
>>>>> --enable-pthreads --disable-network --enable-small --enable-libmp3lame
>>>>> --enable-libfaac --arch=ppc --disable-decoder=atrac3 
>>>>> --extra-ldflags="-
>>>>> isysroot /Xcode2.5/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk -arch ppc --extra-cflags="-
>>>>> isysroot /Xcode2.5/SDKs/MacOSX10.3.9.sdk -arch ppc --enable-gpl --
>>>>> enable-libx264 --enable-libfaad
>>>>
>>>> I cannot reproduce your problem on Mac OS X 10.5.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> But this is not the important thing here.  The important thing here is
>>>> that you are blatantly violating our license in many ways with your
>>>> easywma and easywmv shareware programs:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.easywma.com/
>>>> http://www.easywma.com/wmv/
>>>>
>>>> And now you have the cheek to come here to get help preparing your next
>>>> release?  This is galling and the fact that you have some patches in
>>>> FFmpeg makes it doubly disappointing.
>>> Can you please elaborate on how I am violating the license? I would 
>>> be happy to fix any issue related to this?
>>> Patrice
>>
>> A wild guess says that since you're compiling ffmpeg with swscale, 
>> libx264 and various other GPL components, the entire ffmpeg binary 
>> becomes GPL licensed and hence it is a violation of the GPL to not 
>> make the source code of your application available.
>>
>> As it was also noted recently, compiling ffmpeg with both GPL 
>> components and faac makes the resulting binary illegal to distribute 
>> in most (all? IANAL) countries where the GPL is enforceable (that is 
>> most countries, and most likely including yours), but I don't know who 
>> would enforce that.
> 
> My application is not linked to ffmpeg. The binary of ffmpeg is 
> distributed without any modification. Unless I am mistaken, this is 
> allowed by the GPL licence. Regarding faac, can you please clarify what 
> the issue is? faac is LGPL and hence can be distributed with ffmpeg? 
> Thanks.

faac claims to be LGPL but actually isn't. A number (most?) of its source files 
are actually under a really vague and non-GPL-compatible license, see 
http://faac.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/faac/faac/README?revision=1.7&view=markup
The problem isn't (as far as I can determine) really with that license in itself 
(as mentioned it's extremely vague and you probably need to consult a lawyer to 
find out what it actually means), but rather that it isn't compatible with the 
GPL and hence linking GPL code to that code automatically becomes a license 
violation (but as I said, I wonder in whose interest it would be to try to stop 
said violation).

Regards,
Karl Blomster