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

[Tanu Kaskinen]

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.

-- 
Tanu

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