[pulseaudio-discuss] License problem: LDAC codec & pulseaudio

[Pali Rohár]

On Saturday 23 February 2019 17:59:57 Tanu Kaskinen wrote:
> On Sat, 2019-02-23 at 16:06 +0100, Pali Rohár wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I would like to discuss about licence problems with usage of LDAC
> > encoder libldac in pulseaudio. LDAC is a codec used by some Sony
> > bluetooth headsets and it would be nice to have support for it after my
> > patch series for Modular API for A2DP codecs is merged.
> > 
> > There is only one released LDAC encoder. It is libldac which can be
> > found at: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/libldac/
> > It is licensed under Apache License Version 2.0.
> > 
> > If I understood correctly pulseaudio is licensed under LGPL v2.1 or
> > later with some exceptions when some optional GPL dependences are
> > enabled then server part is licensed under GPL v2 or later. So it can be
> > distributed under GPL v3, right? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
> > 
> > According to FSF https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apache2
> > Apache License Version 2.0 is compatible with GPL v3, but is
> > incompatible with GPL v2.
> > 
> > So, would it be feasible to write LDAC specific code for pulseaudio
> > under GPL v3 license (in separate files) and make compile time option to
> > enable/disable GPL v3 LDAC support? When enabled it would mean that
> > compiled binary of puleaudio server and server modules are forced to be
> > distributed under GPL v3 and thanks to compatibility with Apache License
> > Version 2.0, it would be possible to use libdac library. When disabled
> > then it would be like before (without LDAC and with license like
> > before). Am I correct?
> 
> Yes, I believe you're correct, and at least I am fine with adding LDAC
> support via libldac.

I asked people in SUSE and I got answer that it should be ok if there is
no GPLv2-only code. So has pulseaudio some GPLv2-only code or is all code
compatible with GPLv3 (i.e. GPLv2-or-later)?

-- 
Pali Rohár
pali.rohar at gmail.com
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