[Arm-netbook] Allwinner's LGPL violation

[David Lanzendörfer]

Hi
> ... you get the point? :)
Yes.
>  sorry, again, who is "we"?  what is the context, what is the software
> being distributed, where is it being distributed from - none of this
> has been mentioned so it is very difficult to follow what you are
> saying.
We in this context mean 郑杰文, Ben, Kevin and I (and all the other engineers and 
managers from Allwinner)
* Since I work with Allwinner (allthough I can not live in Zhuhai yet)
* Since I was on a job interview there and I just wait for my work permit for 
	China so that I can work over there for them.

So with "we" I actually mean pretty much everyone from Allwinner,
so you can say "we" means in this context Allwinner or maybe you
understand their Chinese name? -> 全志科技

>  to which wrapper are you referring?  again, i apologise for having to
> point this out but there is no context here.
We are writing an open c library (named wrapper) right now which will fix the
LGPL violations in a formal way... Just until we can go on in our plan.
Since there are many internal decisions to make before we can publish
any more code in our repository.
Some of the managers there were already enough pissed of what they
actually were asked to do when I posted to them the Chinese version
of the GPL and they finally understood the content of the license:
https://github.com/allwinner-zh/media-codec/blob/master/LGPL_V2.1_Chinese
Since many of them didn't have a clou what GPLing actually ment.
Now we are in an internal process of resolving differences.
Some of them are still at the Microsoft-state of "everything needs to be 
proprietary"

>  we have, so far, established that you are planning to work for
> allwinner, pending a visa.  other than that, it is still yet to be
> established who is creating wrappers (you, allwinner, or a separate
> group, and whether you are working with that separate group), what VP6
> is, what software is being distributed (and by whom: you, allwinner,
> or a separate group, and whether you are working for that separate
> group), and much more.
I'm referring to this article:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/02/26/allwinners-new-media-codec-library-cedarx-may-infringe-on-open-source-licenses-and-copyrtights/
At Allwinner (allthough I do not have a visa I'm working for them already)
we decided that a wrapper which separates the GPLed libraries from ours would 
be the only chance to clean up the license mess.
Also our engineers at Allwinner have removed the Google-VP6 and switched
over to ffmpeg now.

> additionally, although it has not been explicitly stated and made
> clear, through logical deduction and to a lesser extent assumption
> that you are knowledgeable about the GPL, i can only *infer* that you
> (personally) are not distributing GPL-violating software (but that you
> are knowingly going to work for a company that is), but other than
> that after two messages i am left with very little else that is
> concrete and clear to me, for which, again, i must apologise, and
> invite you to help correct.
In the first place I just wanna be an engineer and wanna get the chance to find 
creative solutions and build a piece of art with every design I make.
Allwinner gives me this chance. That's why I wanna work for them.
The will is here by many (but not all) of Allwinners members to fully clean up 
the GPL violations. We have internally (Skype and E-Mail) made up a plan to 
accomplish the task of GPL-cleanup.
But this process takes time and also involves difficult social tasks...

I hope this is something more clear now
	David
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