time to remove COPYING.GPL from alsa-plugins? (issue #45)
Hi Alsa-devs and Mr Iwai,
Sorry for the spam, I am resending this in plain text mode this time.
It seems the only thing in alsa-plugins that has a GPL license is rate/rate_samplerate.c, and that is due to the license of libsamplerate. But in 2016, libsamplerate dropped the commercial/GPL part of its license and was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So I was wondering if the license for rate_samplerate.c can be updated to remove the GPL license, which means the COPYING.GPL file can also be removed from the alsa-plugins package?
I have created issue #54 in github.com/alsa-project/alsa-plugins, but so far, no action.
Should I submit a pull request?
Thanks, Michael
On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:26:31 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Alsa-devs and Mr Iwai,
Sorry for the spam, I am resending this in plain text mode this time.
It seems the only thing in alsa-plugins that has a GPL license is rate/rate_samplerate.c, and that is due to the license of libsamplerate. But in 2016, libsamplerate dropped the commercial/GPL part of its license and was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So I was wondering if the license for rate_samplerate.c can be updated to remove the GPL license, which means the COPYING.GPL file can also be removed from the alsa-plugins package?
I have created issue #54 in github.com/alsa-project/alsa-plugins, but so far, no action.
Should I submit a pull request?
The code allows LGPL, too. What's the problem with it?
thanks,
Takashi
Hi Takashi,
Thanks for taking time to address this issue.
Yes, rate_samplerate.c is dual licensed (LGPL or GPLv2). However, depending on one's interpretation, someone MAY conclude that the rate_samplerate plugin is licensed as GPLv2 for a commercial entity such as Broadcom.
The first line in the license is:
"This plugin code is supposed to be used and distributed primarily under GPL v2 or later..."
The second line says:
"However, if you already own a commercial license to use libsamplerate for dynamic linking, this plugin code can be used and distributed also under LGPL v2.1 or later."
But Broadcom does not own a "commercial license to use libsamplerate" since libsamplerate basically eliminated the need for a commercial license in 2016 when it was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So it is not clear whether the first sentence (GPLv2) or the second sentence (LGPLv2) applies to Broadcom.
So I am trying to eliminate any possibility of different interpretations by requesting that the license in rate_samplerate.c and the alsa-plugins be updated to reflect the current license status of libsamplerate.
Thank you, Michael
On Fri, Oct 6, 2023 at 1:55 AM Takashi Iwai tiwai@suse.de wrote:
On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:26:31 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Alsa-devs and Mr Iwai,
Sorry for the spam, I am resending this in plain text mode this time.
It seems the only thing in alsa-plugins that has a GPL license is rate/rate_samplerate.c, and that is due to the license of libsamplerate. But in 2016, libsamplerate dropped the commercial/GPL part of its license and was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So I was wondering if the license for rate_samplerate.c can be updated to remove the GPL license, which means the COPYING.GPL file can also be removed from the alsa-plugins package?
I have created issue #54 in github.com/alsa-project/alsa-plugins, but so far, no action.
Should I submit a pull request?
The code allows LGPL, too. What's the problem with it?
thanks,
Takashi
On Sat, 07 Oct 2023 02:12:20 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Takashi,
Thanks for taking time to address this issue.
Yes, rate_samplerate.c is dual licensed (LGPL or GPLv2). However, depending on one's interpretation, someone MAY conclude that the rate_samplerate plugin is licensed as GPLv2 for a commercial entity such as Broadcom.
The first line in the license is:
"This plugin code is supposed to be used and distributed primarily under GPL v2 or later..."
The second line says:
"However, if you already own a commercial license to use libsamplerate for dynamic linking, this plugin code can be used and distributed also under LGPL v2.1 or later."
But Broadcom does not own a "commercial license to use libsamplerate" since libsamplerate basically eliminated the need for a commercial license in 2016 when it was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So it is not clear whether the first sentence (GPLv2) or the second sentence (LGPLv2) applies to Broadcom.
So I am trying to eliminate any possibility of different interpretations by requesting that the license in rate_samplerate.c and the alsa-plugins be updated to reflect the current license status of libsamplerate.
OK, then I think we can simply move to LGPL-only for that plugin. Luckily, I'm the sole author of that piece of code, so it's legally OK to relicense.
Takashi
Thank you, Michael
On Fri, Oct 6, 2023 at 1:55 AM Takashi Iwai tiwai@suse.de wrote:
On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:26:31 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Alsa-devs and Mr Iwai,
Sorry for the spam, I am resending this in plain text mode this time.
It seems the only thing in alsa-plugins that has a GPL license is rate/rate_samplerate.c, and that is due to the license of libsamplerate. But in 2016, libsamplerate dropped the commercial/GPL part of its license and was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So I was wondering if the license for rate_samplerate.c can be updated to remove the GPL license, which means the COPYING.GPL file can also be removed from the alsa-plugins package?
I have created issue #54 in github.com/alsa-project/alsa-plugins, but so far, no action.
Should I submit a pull request?
The code allows LGPL, too. What's the problem with it?
thanks,
Takashi
-- This electronic communication and the information and any files transmitted with it, or attached to it, are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged, protected by privacy laws, or otherwise restricted from disclosure to anyone else. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivering the e-mail to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, copying, distributing, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please return the e-mail to the sender, delete it from your computer, and destroy any printed copy of it. Verifying...
Hi Takashi,
That is great news! Thank you for taking care of this!
Michael
On Sat, Oct 7, 2023 at 12:10 AM Takashi Iwai tiwai@suse.de wrote:
On Sat, 07 Oct 2023 02:12:20 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Takashi,
Thanks for taking time to address this issue.
Yes, rate_samplerate.c is dual licensed (LGPL or GPLv2). However, depending on one's interpretation, someone MAY conclude that the rate_samplerate plugin is licensed as GPLv2 for a commercial entity such as Broadcom.
The first line in the license is:
"This plugin code is supposed to be used and distributed primarily under GPL v2 or later..."
The second line says:
"However, if you already own a commercial license to use libsamplerate for dynamic linking, this plugin code can be used and distributed also under LGPL v2.1 or later."
But Broadcom does not own a "commercial license to use libsamplerate" since libsamplerate basically eliminated the need for a commercial license in 2016 when it was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So it is not clear whether the first sentence (GPLv2) or the second sentence (LGPLv2) applies to Broadcom.
So I am trying to eliminate any possibility of different interpretations by requesting that the license in rate_samplerate.c and the alsa-plugins be updated to reflect the current license status of libsamplerate.
OK, then I think we can simply move to LGPL-only for that plugin. Luckily, I'm the sole author of that piece of code, so it's legally OK to relicense.
Takashi
Thank you, Michael
On Fri, Oct 6, 2023 at 1:55 AM Takashi Iwai tiwai@suse.de wrote:
On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:26:31 +0200, Michael Wang wrote:
Hi Alsa-devs and Mr Iwai,
Sorry for the spam, I am resending this in plain text mode this time.
It seems the only thing in alsa-plugins that has a GPL license is rate/rate_samplerate.c, and that is due to the license of libsamplerate. But in 2016, libsamplerate dropped the commercial/GPL part of its license and was released with the 2-Clause BSD license. So I was wondering if the license for rate_samplerate.c can be updated to remove the GPL license, which means the COPYING.GPL file can also be removed from the alsa-plugins package?
I have created issue #54 in github.com/alsa-project/alsa-plugins, but so far, no action.
Should I submit a pull request?
The code allows LGPL, too. What's the problem with it?
thanks,
Takashi
-- This electronic communication and the information and any files transmitted with it, or attached to it, are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged, protected by privacy laws, or otherwise restricted from disclosure to anyone else. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivering the e-mail to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, copying, distributing, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please return the e-mail to the sender, delete it from your computer, and destroy any printed copy of it. Verifying...
participants (2)
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Michael Wang -
Takashi Iwai