[XviD-devel] xvid license

[Christoph Lampert]

On 22 Apr 2003, Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller wrote:

> Hi,
> Well if you don't mind such usage why not make xvid LGPL? 

No way, that something completely different.  We have nothing against
users using XVID with any application they like, but we sure don't want
all companies in the world to bundle XVID with their stuff. We don't want
XVID be part of any proprietary application.

> As for the GPL
> allowing such usage, well not everyone agrees. We (gstreamer) had a long
> talk with Richard Stallman and he was very clear that if GStreamer
> allowed non-GPL apps to use GPL plugins we would be a vehicle for
> rampant license violations. 

No, I think that _is_ very clear. GPL doesn't restrict _usage_ of any
kind. But destribution of derived works is forbidden, so Adobe must not
bundle Premiere with XVID (just an example). 
If GStreamer contained XVID, and GStreamer can be included into any
proprietary application (LGPL) then possibly people would include all
plugins, including XVID, too. But that doesn't make it legal to do so, 
so we have nothing against GStreamer users using XVID as plugin, but it
should not be part of a  GStreamer application/distribution.  

Maybe Richard Stallman doesn't agree with that, but I see no logical
alternative. We can't forbid Adobe to create Premiere with VfW Interface,
and it would be ridiculous to sue any user who clicks on XVID when it
appears in the plugin list. 
The only other way to solve this would be to forbid GPL applications to
use APIS which also proprietary applications might use. Not an
alternative...

> In reponse to this we added a license factory field to each of our
> plugins and our long term plans include having applications activly
> having to tell GStreamer that they are allowed to access GPL
> applications. At that time any non-GPL compatible application would be
> effectivly cut of from functionality offered by GPL plugins (like xvid
> currently is)

So why is GStreamer LGPL? It's no problem to integrate LGPL plugins into
GPL applications, because you can always distribute under the stricter
license. 

gruel


P:S. I don't want to advertise our competitors, but if you don't have
a plugin for FFmpeg, yet: It's LGPL and very powerful. 


 
> Christian
> 
> On Tue, 2003-04-22 at 13:24, Christoph Lampert wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I don't think it would be possible to make everyone agree to this. Not
> > because we don't like GStreamer, but because already including the linking
> > exception in the last release was a "mistake". We thought it was necessary
> > for users in order to use XVID with non-GPLed Windows applications like
> > Adobe Premiere, but the truth is, it isn't. GPL just forbids distribution
> > of such a combination, not usage. The next release of XVID (soon to come)
> > will not contain any linking exception anymore. 
> > 
> > gruel 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On 22 Apr 2003, Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I am with the GStreamer project (http://www.gstreamer.net) which is
> > > creating a full featured multimedia framework for Linux and Unix
> > > plattforms. We are just putting the finishing touches on an encoder
> > > plugin using xvid. GStreamer is LGPL and due to that wish that as many
> > > of our plugins as possible is available under terms that makes them
> > > useable on the same terms as the LGPL sets. 
> > > 
> > > I looked at your license and see that you have a special exception for
> > > VFW1.1 and DShow interfaces, and was wondering if we could get a similar
> > > exception for applications that access xvid through GStreamer. If so we
> > > would be very greatful. 
> -- 
> Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller <Uraeus at linuxrising.org>
> 
>