[Ffmpeg-devel] overall license review - adding proper license headers

[Rich Felker]

On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 06:58:19PM +0300, Uoti Urpala wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 11:39 -0400, Rich Felker wrote:
> > > libavcodec/i386/idct_mmx.c is marked as GPL but with the exception that
> > > it can be used as LGPL in libavcodec.  IMO this is equivalent to
> > > releasing it under the LGPL in libavcodec.  The licensing note should be
> > > updated.
> > 
> > Yes, there is not such thing as "GPL for one particular project" or
> > "LGPL for one particular project" since both these licenses allow
> > unlimited relicensing under themselves. However this sort of language
> > from an author is very dangerous IMO because it indicates that they do
> > not understand GPL/LGPL at all and might try to attack users who
> 
> But it does make sense in the meaning "I will relicense this under LGPL
> if it's included in libavcodec" when the code is not yet part of
> libavcodec when writing that.

Yes I believe Michael has used that form before, right?

> Also strictly speaking "LGPL for one particular project (and copies of
> that) and GPL otherwise" IS possible - if you receive a copy from one of
> those projects only then you have to follow that license. Obviously it
> would in practice be LGPL if both versions are widely available, but
> with limited distribution it could matter.

I see what you mean but technically it's still not possible to say
"Software foo may be distributed under the LGPL when and only when
it's included with FFmpeg." This statement is self-contradictory.

Rich