[Ffmpeg-devel] [DISCUSSION] GPL violation by ratDVD?

Ivan Kalvachev ikalvachev
Sun Aug 21 17:11:36 CEST 2005


2005/7/31, matthieu castet <castet.matthieu at free.fr>:
> Gamester17 wrote:
> > Is ratDVD (www.ratdvd.dk) violating the GPL?, open discussions:
> > http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/215044
> > http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=693256#post693256
> > PS!  I will be supprised if this isn't 'slashdotted' soon =/
> >
> well there was a discussion on dvd-devel ML
> (http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=7525493&forum_id=774),
> and the dvdnav authors seem don't care.
> Without them you can't do anything.
> 
> Moreover as the GPL FAQ say, you can use GPL applications in your
> proprietary software if they run as external process. So there'll always
> people trying to build complex wrapper to profit of GPL software...

The criteria is actually very simple. If the non-free program depends
on GPL program to work, then they are linked, thus the comersial
program is in violation.
It doesn't matter what interface they use and how they are connected.

This also have to say that all MPlayer frontends should be (L)GPL compatable.

It could be easily tested. Stop the internet connection, install and
run that ratDVD. If it can play DVD without libdvdnav, then it is ok.


Ivan Kalvachev
iive





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