"Unlucky"? I think it is rather a good thing. Using patented algoritms and distributing the software that uses them, can bring on lawsuits. A lawsuit can bring down a distribution like Debian.
If you wish to use the software, that's fine by me. People may use lame (under GPL) to encode MP3s, etc.. But they are required to pay a fee to the patent holders of MP3 algorithm. It also means that Debian _cannot_ distribute lame in main nor non-US. - Adam On Fri, Jun 13, 2003 at 11:36:57AM +0200, guenter geiger wrote: > > Hi, > > I think I will bring up the topic on "legal" (later, going to be with > limited net access the next week). I definitely want it to > be in main, I think there are lots of packages with patent problems in > main, it is just unlucky that in this case the author clearly states > it. > Anyhow, I might search through the package and split it in free an > non-free. > > Thanks, > Guenter > > > > On Thu, 12 Jun 2003, Adam Majer wrote: > > On Wed, Jun 11, 2003 at 07:06:20PM +0200, Guenter Geiger (Debian/GNU) wrote: > > > Package: wnpp > > > Version: unavailable; reported 2003-06-11 > > > Severity: wishlist > > > > > > * Package name : stk > > > Version : 4.1.1 > > > Upstream Author : Perry R. Cook > > > * URL : http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/software/stk/ > > > * License : see below > > > Description : C++ classes for audio digital signal processing > > > > > > The license might be problematic though: > > > > > > If you make a million dollars with it, give us some. If you make > > > compositions with it, put us in the program notes. > > > > > > Some of the concepts are covered by various patents, some known to us and > > > likely others which are unknown. Many of the ones known to us are > > > > I think this should go into non-free at best. Or even better, > > non-free/non-US. Unless some of these patents apply incountries > > other than US. For example, MP3 encoders cannot be included in > > Debian at all because of the patent problems. > > > > - Adam > >
