James: > Kinda funny that essentially every common codec is "legacy"... makes me > laugh a bit since they are still in use and are essential to end-user > transparency. I really am a tad ticked off about the GPL even more now, > a step backwards for all media projects on all non-commercial systems, > just pathetic if you ask me. :-( > > Getting exceptions for every SINGLE gstreamer plugin, backend, frontend, > program, library, what the heck is wrong with the world... sheesh.
GStreamer and its plugins are LGPL, which has no legal issue with non-free code. The problem is only with the actual end-user application. If the end-user application is GPL, then it needs an exception. Also there can be problems if an application (or GStreamer) links in a GPL library. For example, we had to replace the GStreamer CDDA plugin when we realized that we were using libcdio which is GPL. The GNOME community has already relicensed totem with such an exception and is currently working to relicense the other popular programs (gnome-media, rhythmbox, and sound-juicer). It's too early to tell if they will be successful with relicensing, but I have high hopes that we will soon have a media stack in Solaris that can use GStreamer with non-free plugins. This might mean replacing rhythmbox with Songbird, for example. But the situation with the GPL isn't quite as complicated as you suggest since LGPL doesn't have any issue with non-free plugins. Brian
