Bug#199266: ITP: ffmpeg -- multimedia streaming system
On Sun, Jun 29, 2003, Andrew Suffield wrote:
> The reasons given for closing the ITP were moronic, however there is a
> more pressing problem. ffmpeg is in the same boat as mjpegtools, in
> that it implements algorithms such as mpeg-2 encoders, which are
> patented and aggressively enforced by the patent owners.
Any examples of such aggressive behaviour? I have been monitoring
ffmpeg since a long time and they have never been threatened. Also,
distributions such as Gentoo or FreeBSD which have worldwide mirrors
are distributing ffmpeg.
> Somebody will have to investigate all the algorithms it implements and
> see whether we can get away with distributing it or not
It will be hard for me to draw the line between a "Save As" or "XOR
cursor" patent and one that can not be distributed, since they are
probably valid only in that totalitarian country between Canada and
Mexico, anyway.
I'm not saying this patent audit is useless (I'll probably do it if
no one else stands up), but since neither the authors of the software
nor the entities redistributing it in source or binary forms have ever
been intimidated, I do not see a real risk for Debian.
> Note that being patented isn't fundamentally an issue, but having the
> patent owner prohibit our distribution of the code is.
>
> That's not to say it can't be included in the distribution, but you've
> got some work to do first to find out. It may be necessary to gut some
> codecs.
Okay, I'll investigate and send my findings to the BTS for archival.
> Also, it is probably not appropriate to build shared libraries at this
> time, since the API isn't stable (and upstream don't appear to
> understand this).
Yup, that was my intention (see the end of the ITP).
Sam.
--
Sam Hocevar <sam@zoy.org> <http://sam.zoy.org/>
Reply to: