[Arm-netbook] Video Decoder library license

[lkcl luke]

2012/4/23 Henrik Nordström <henrik at henriknordstrom.net>:
> lör 2012-04-21 klockan 16:51 +0200 skrev Carlos Balseiro:
>> So, we have some code in github for the video decoder, but no license
>> is specified. Tom, can you give us some light about it? It will be
>> interesting to know if it is licensed with something compatible with
>> XBMC.
>
> For your own use you are allowed to do pretty much anything, but if you
> want to redistribute the result then the GPLv2 license of XBMC needs to
> be fulfilled, which pretty much by default rules out anything you do not
> have full sources to unless you can squeeze it throught as one of "the
> major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system
> on which the executable runs".

 ah, yes, i'd forgotten about that: "system libraries" are an
exemption from the GPL's conditions.  this exemption was added because
many proprietary OSes such as solaris had proprietary libraries,
proprietary header files, proprietary binaries etc. that were
essential to the operation of the hardware and could not, obviously,
be replaced all in one go.

 so the GPL had to cater for that and allow application to be written
that linked to libraries and used header files for components that
managed "the system" - video, files, keyboard, disks, runtime
components etc. etc.

 so things like the MALI proprietrary opengl library, as well as the
cedar video acceleration library, actually qualify as "system
libraries" and as such do *not* need to be made GPL.  much as i hate
to admit it.

 however this has nothing to do with allwinner getting absolutely
swamped with requests for the right to distribute the
(un-copyright-noticed, un-licensed) video acceleration code.

 l.