[Ffmpeg-devel] Re: uninstall target

[Michel Bardiaux]

M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
> Michel Bardiaux said:
> 
>>M?ns Rullg?rd wrote:
>>
>>>Michel Bardiaux said:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Rich Felker wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>On Thu, Aug 25, 2005 at 12:39:56AM +0000, Burkhard Plaum wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Reimar D?ffinger <Reimar.Doeffinger <at> stud.uni-karlsruhe.de> writes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Maybe, though my guess is that installing only makes sense when you
>>>>>>>build a dynamic libavcodec, which is not well supported in an aspect...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>It's gotten MUCH better. pkg-config support and the fixes of some
>>>>>>memleaks,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Fixing memleaks isn't very useful when every upgrade breaks abi or
>>>>>even api...! lavc just is not intended for use as a shared lib at this
>>>>>time.
>>>>
>>>>But it is licensed as LGPL which means it is *supposed* to have a stable
>>>>ABI!
>>>
>>>
>>>Huh?  Licenses imply nothing whatsoever about API or ABI stability, or any
>>>other usability factors.  Did you ever read the "as is" disclaimer?
>>
>>How is one supposed to use lavc while complying with LGPL? (rhetorical
>>question) The answers one finds all over the web are
>>
>>(1) dynalink to lavc.so so that users of your app can enjoy successive
>>releases of lavc by simply replacing the dso. This of course requires a
>>stable ABI.
>>
>>(2) Statically link your app to lavc.a but distribute relocatable
>>binaries of your app so that users blah blah by simply relinking your
>>app. This of course requires a stable ABI.
>>
>>(3) Distribute your app with source. But then its no longer LGPL but GPL.
>>
>>In other words, LGPL without a stable ABI is a scam: you cant comply
>>with it without acting as if it were GPL.
> 
> 
> Have you read the LGPL?  It doesn't require that your an app using an
> LGPL library must work with later releases of the library.  All that is
> required is that whoever receives the application also can obtain the
> source code of the library, and relink the application after possibly
> modifying the library sources.  This is not the same as the application
> working with any arbitrary modifications to the library.
> 

OOOOOkay, so it is enough to release our apps with relocatable binaries 
and a notice "compatible with ffmpeg cvs as of yyyymmdd"?

Mind you, my 3 points above may not be the *right* interpretation of the 
LGPL, but they're really what is implied by the vast majority of pages 
purporting to explain the LGPL.

-- 
Michel Bardiaux
R&D Director
T +32 [0] 2 790 29 41
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