The following message is a courtesy copy of an article that has been posted to gmane.linux.debian.devel.general as well.
[ CC'ed ftp-master, please see below ] José Manuel Santamaría Lema <panfa...@gmail.com> writes: > It should be great if someone can package this tools for debian, a software > which I'm packaging depend on this tools. > http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=467228 are you willing to package it under the pkg-multimedia umbrella? > Its already packaged in ubuntu multiverse: > http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/mjpegtools > > There is also a version in debian-multimedia: > http://debian-multimedia.org/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/package/mjpegtools.php Sure, ubuntu has imported some packages from marillat, including mjpegtools. > I don't understand why mjpegtools is in ubuntu multiverse because as > far as I know, ubuntu multiverse is non-free software, but mjpegtools > seems to be free software as its dependencies. The debian/copyright file is close to useless. You need to inspect the source manually to get an idea of its legal status. >From mpeg2enc/mpeg2coder.cc (but there are many similar comments in >mpeg2enc/*.cc): /* * Disclaimer of Warranty * * These software programs are available to the user without any license fee or * royalty on an "as is" basis. The MPEG Software Simulation Group disclaims * any and all warranties, whether express, implied, or statuary, including any * implied warranties or merchantability or of fitness for a particular * purpose. In no event shall the copyright-holder be liable for any * incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever * arising from the use of these programs. * * This disclaimer of warranty extends to the user of these programs and user's * customers, employees, agents, transferees, successors, and assigns. * * The MPEG Software Simulation Group does not represent or warrant that the * programs furnished hereunder are free of infringement of any third-party * patents. * * Commercial implementations of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, including shareware, * are subject to royalty fees to patent holders. Many of these patents are * general enough such that they are unavoidable regardless of implementation * design. * */ One can now argue what "commercial implementation" actually means. I'm still waiting for ftp-master to comment on this, but AFAIUI, I don't see why debian wouldn't be able to ship the binaries of mjpegtools, lame and similar free software in non-free. non-free as a convenience for users[1], that build assemble and sell pre-installed and pre-configured devices running debian. [1] http://debian.org/distrib/pre-installed ftp-master, can you please comment on adding this kind software to non-free? -- Gruesse/greetings, Reinhard Tartler, KeyID 945348A4 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-wnpp-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
