[Bug 411960] Re: reconsider ffmpeg gpl mode

[Reinhard Tartler]

[ Diverting discussion to ubuntu-devel to not spam the bug with
  discussion. For full context, please cf. lp #411960 ]

Context: Under which license do we redistribute gstreamer in Ubuntu?

Caspar Clemens Mierau <launchpad at mierau.eu> writes:

> I totally agree, that it'd be easy using gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg and
> similar packages (libavg for instance) in GPL mode, but they aren't
> released that way. Check http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ for instance:
>
> "GStreamer is released under the LGPL."

Right, and that's the license under which we ship it. However, according
to my understanding of the issue, we do not require all plugins and
extensions to be under the same license, read: the gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
extension can be distributed under GPL, while the gstreamer framework
itself remains LGPL.

Is me understanding of the issue correct?

> So we need to consider compiling ffmpeg in LGPL mode, using different
> packages or changing other things to fit the licence issue.

As already indicated, I'd like to avoid introducing a
/usr/lib/ffmpeg-gpl/libavcodec.so.52 version and make gstreamer use that
version. Technically, this could be done, but I'd rather not until we
really need to do so.

-- 
Gruesse/greetings,
Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4