[Mesa-dev] S2TC - yet another attempt to solve the "S3TC issue"

[Jose Fonseca]

----- Original Message -----
> On Mon, Aug 08, 2011 at 01:01:14AM -0700, Corbin Simpson wrote:
> > On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 12:58 AM, Egon Ashrafinia
> > <egon.mageia at googlemail.com> wrote:
> > > As I said in IRC ~ 2 Weeks ago, it is very Important that we
> > > support S3TC!
> > >
> > > I mean, the main problem is that this is a Software Patent,
> > > correct? Always
> > > as I know, only in the United States of America, correct?
> > >
> > > If so, in my opinoin the solution is simple. Let's do it the same
> > > as we did
> > > with --texture-float! Dont build it by default but ad a option to
> > > build it.
> > > And then every Distribution can decide them self.
> > > An American Distribution will disable it and an european
> > > distribution will
> > > disable it.
> > > Why dont we do it like this? I mean this is not a global patent.
> > > Even if so,
> > > France wont accept it cause they dont have software patents. (
> > > What a great
> > > State!!! :D )
> > >
> > > Also, please keep in mind! Without this support, Linux/Gnu will
> > > _never_ and
> > > I realy mean _never_ a gaming Plattform. Not now and not in the
> > > future!
> > >
> > > Let's do some may critical risks to improve the 3D Power of
> > > Gnu/Linux :D
> > 
> > *You* do it then. We already support an external S3TC lib which can
> > be
> > built separately; go convince distros to pick it up.
> 
> This then is what S2TC is for. Distros could ALREADY take S2TC and
> include
> that, while most gamers wouldn't see a difference, while feeling
> "safer" from
> those patents (whether it is actually a successful evasion, only a
> judge can
> decide).

Please stop this "just because people can something it mean it is OK" fallacy. That's what's ridiculous. Anybody can punch another in the face anytime, doesn't mean that a) he should; b) we should condemn or induce such practice.

Without analogies, yes, people can do all sort of things with our software, but we developers should not condone, nor induce wrong/dubious practices.

> The suggestion however is to include a S2TC-like method with Mesa, to
> basically
> make sure that in the long run NO distro has no support for S3TC
> uploading,
> without requiring an extra decision in each distro.

I wouldn't oppose bundling S2TC for software renderers, but enabling S3TC decompression on hardware is an orthogonal matter, which depends on the licensing terms between the IHV and S3.

If you wanna fix this, convince IHVs to fully license the S3TC use in their hardware for Linux.  So far the only IHV that _seems_ to have such wide cross-OS license is NVIDIA.

I think it would be good to add a FAQ about this in the docs.  But I'm done with this stupid thread.  I'll enjoy my vacation and stop wasting time with this nonsense.

Jose