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VLC Core is LGPL

jbkempf.com

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Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#51

Post by keeperofdakeys »

comice wrote: post #20

So every contributor essentially gets to vote on the license change, and their vote is proportional to the contribution they made (because if they vote no, their contributed code has to be rewritten). I think I quite like it, but only because there is an option to replace their code if they vote no (which admittedly may be very technically difficult). No single contributor can truly veto the license change. Clearly h…

Imagine trying to do this for something like the linux kernel, it would be nearly impossible.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#52

Post by jbk »

kimmel wrote: post #18
Nursie wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VLC has been able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it for many years and always been available across diverse platforms. It's an awesome product. Why so negative?

VLC has always lagged behind in proper x264 decoding. For most of the 1.x and the first few versions of the 2.x series I had dozens of video files with visual artifacts whilst the newest versions of mplayer at the time did not. I maintain this kind of test suite since I do video production using open source software and I have to make sure it works in all the major video players. VLC is useful and important but it is…

No software is perfect. However, for H.264 (x264? sigh) decoding VLC 2.x with multi-threaded decoding should eat all the files without issues (no reports so far).

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#53

Post by belorn »

jbk wrote: post #30

This is my website :) (I did not expect that to come on HN, to be honest) Anyway, the title is, of course, misleading. VLC core, named libVLCcore is LGPL since last year (I did it too in december) and the wrapper for 3rd party applications libVLC was relicensed too at the same time. This is different, since most modules of VLC are now LGPL. We speak about codecs, demuxers, format parsers, protocol accesses, filter an…

Could you explain in a bit more details why you did this move from GPL to LGPL? The blog post did not want to expand on this, and I for one would very much like to hear, from your view, what benefits the project might get from this move.

Preferable in practical terms, as "more professional developers around VLC" sound a bit vague and, if that is really the stated goal, will you follow up on this with statistics to show if the license is drawing more professional developers to the project?

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#54

Post by jbk »

pretoriusB wrote: post #47
jbk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rémi Denis-Courmont is the biggest contributor of VLC, so far, and he pushed forward the LGPL move... :)

But, since, LGPL enables the iOS port as an option again, what made RD-C change his mind? A cynic would ask if it has anything to do with not working for Nokia anymore...

And a cynic would be wrong.

The LGPL move started some time ago and Rémi was still at Nokia and he was pushing for it.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#55

Post by icebraining »

pretoriusB wrote: post #47
jbk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rémi Denis-Courmont is the biggest contributor of VLC, so far, and he pushed forward the LGPL move... :)

But, since, LGPL enables the iOS port as an option again, what made RD-C change his mind? A cynic would ask if it has anything to do with not working for Nokia anymore...

Do you know if he was against an iOS port? Maybe he was just against violating the license.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#56

Post by jbk »

belorn wrote: post #53
jbk wrote: post #30

This is my website :) (I did not expect that to come on HN, to be honest) Anyway, the title is, of course, misleading. VLC core, named libVLCcore is LGPL since last year (I did it too in december) and the wrapper for 3rd party applications libVLC was relicensed too at the same time. This is different, since most modules of VLC are now LGPL. We speak about codecs, demuxers, format parsers, protocol accesses, filter an…

Could you explain in a bit more details why you did this move from GPL to LGPL? The blog post did not want to expand on this, and I for one would very much like to hear, from your view, what benefits the project might get from this move. Preferable in practical terms, as "more professional developers around VLC" sound a bit vague and, if that is really the stated goal, will you follow up on this with statistics to sh…

We are not able to enforce the GPL anyway, so let's help companies use VLC and contribute back, so this benefits all users.

Competition.

AppStores and other crap of the post-PC era. :)

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#57

Post by jbk »

hedwall wrote: post #11
nicholassmith wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iTunes App Store, GPL is incompatible so it was pulled by request, I've still got a copy on my iPad though.

Don't think so, considering the limitations as to how many devices you may download the application to. If i am not mistaken was it five.

This limitation is gone.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#58

Post by jbk »

Argorak wrote: post #16
freeman478 wrote: post #2

This mean that VLC could be back on the AppStore.

Be aware that the LGPL still has some pitfalls in store here: http://multinc.com/2009/08/24/compatibility-between-the-ipho...

An analysis of 2009 on the App Store is totally obsolete, knowing that the ToS change every couple of months.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#59

Post by belorn »

jbk wrote: post #56
belorn wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain in a bit more details why you did this move from GPL to LGPL? The blog post did not want to expand on this, and I for one would very much like to hear, from your view, what benefits the project might get from this move. Preferable in practical terms, as "more professional developers around VLC" sound a bit vague and, if that is really the stated goal, will you follow up on this with statistics to sh…

We are not able to enforce the GPL anyway, so let's help companies use VLC and contribute back, so this benefits all users. Competition. AppStores and other crap of the post-PC era. :)

okey, so beyond AppStore and theirs rules/eula/requirements and so on, the goal is to increase third-party contributions from companies?

I would be very interested to see some data on that, say gathered over a year or two. Licenses decision really need more scientific approach, and if the main desire from choosing a license is to attract more third-party contributions, GPL vs LGPL is an interesting situation.

Have you seen a change in third-party contributions from companies for the libVLCcore after the license change? Its not the same type of software as the mods, but would still be interesting in this context.

Re: VLC Core is LGPL

#60

Post by andyzweb »

jbk wrote: post #41
Nursie wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VLC has been able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it for many years and always been available across diverse platforms. It's an awesome product. Why so negative?

The main reason, is that VLC is too mainstream... For people who want to spend hours to configure their system, MPC-HC with madVR can give better upscaling and foobar gives better audio fidelity. Most of the rest is usual rants from issues that VLC had in the past, but that 1337 video people like to bring up to explain how their setup is soooo much better.

I have to ask. Do you frequent /g/?
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