[FFmpeg-devel] Is it ok to add G.722.1 decoder as external lib?

[Moritz Barsnick]

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 09:29:54 +0900, Hyun Yoo wrote:
> I implemented a g.722.1 decoder by linking FreeSwitch's libg722_1
> as external lib like libilbc, libspeex(ex. configure --enable-libg722_1)
> (https://github.com/traviscross/freeswitch/tree/master/libs/libg722_1)
>
> But I'm not sure about the license issue
> because g.722.1 is licensed by Polycom(royalty-free)
>
> Getting permission is my(commiter) job? or user(who link and compile)'s job?

I believe (but IANAL) all that licence file
(https://github.com/traviscross/freeswitch/blob/1220bbcff2fe733f40c9eae0f26a91062f419fee/libs/libg722_1/COPYING)
says is that the G.722.1 *codec* is to be licensed, and the code
implementation is "free to use". Is this the actual reference
implementation quoted in that file? Really bad wording, if you ask me.

But that said: ffmpeg already has a native G.722 encoder (and decoder),
and even the same author (Steve Underwood) is credited in it. Perhaps
it was even derived from the same sources as the libg722_1 sources.

Why would you need this external implementation? Because it provides
G.722.1 versus just G.722? Could that functionality not easily be
ported/merged to ffmpeg, assuming the same licensing conditions as
assumed for the G.722 implementation?

Cheers,
Moritz