[FFmpeg-devel] patch for a new H.264 codec

[Soft Works]

> From: Nicolas George
>
> Yufei He (12019-03-11):
> > Matrox M264 is similar to other hardware codecs.
> >
> > I saw amf_load_library and nvenc_load_library in ffmpeg.
>
> Past practices do not constitute precedents.
>
> > We got a lot customers using ffmpeg and they want to use Matrox M264 to do transcoding.
>
> If you make the driver GPL-compatible, there will be no problem at all.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
>   Nicolas George

While I don’t care much about Matrox, I’m a bit surprised about the
recent sounds here. Should  we expect ffmpeg to drop most hw
accelerations, then?

IANAL, but aren’t drivers clearly considered to be system components?
In this case they would  be exempted from the GPL afaic?

Anyway, I thought that ffmpeg is LGPL, not GPL. It only becomes GPL
as soon as someone is including GPL libraries, right?

And in that case: wouldn’t it be true that only the owners of
such an included GPL component could pursue and make demands
against a potential violator (violating GPL but not LGPL terms)?

Since ffmpeg code is LGPL, my understanding is that ffmpeg could only
pursue violations of the license under which it is publishing its code,
and that would be LGPL but not GPL.


I’m just wondering – are those assumptions incorrect?

Regards,
softworkz