[MPlayer-users] GPL question

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 02:08:56PM -0500, Jon Hood wrote:
> Since mplayer is under the GPL, according to my understanding, including it
> in a program, such as Giveaway of the Day's current clone2go software,
> without releasing the derived product under the GPL is a violation. Is this
> understanding correct?

That depends on what your idea of a "derived product" is.

> Installer from Giveaway of the Day installs mplayer.exe, mencoder.exe, and
> ffmpeg. The attached about page is displayed.

As long as it is separate binaries that is usually considered a "mere aggregation".
Even a frontend calling them via the command line is not considered a "derived
work" under the GPL. Which is the case for "intrusive" ways which still do not
involve direct linking probably will only be decidable by a judge.
Obviously the license for MPlayer itself etc. must still be respected, i.e.
a copy of the GPL must be included, source must be either included/at the same
location or an offer for the source code must be included.
Either way, reading the GPL and the GPL FAQ are good ideas if you want to know
for sure. Not everything is "obvious" about the GPL, but it is a quite readable
document (very much so compared to e.g. all EULAs).