Re: [Gnewsense-dev] Is VLC free?

[Ted Smith]

On Mon, 2009-08-17 at 21:15 +0200, Sam Geeraerts wrote:
> Any volunteers for asking the VLC guys about 
> where they got it and why they think it can be used in free software?

I hung out in #videolan for a bit, and someone eventually linked me to
this ffmpeg list posting:

https://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-cvslog/2007-July/008334.html

Long story short, the file seems to be non-free, and several projects
ship it anyways. Additionally, the file is included in mostly the same
form even in VLC's HEAD, making the entire program apparently
unredistributable. Troublingly, the FSF recommends VLC in several
PlayOGG pieces, IIRC. 

If that list posting is correct, and VLC is tainted, this is truly a sad
day for free software. I'm going to continue to look into it and would
appreciate if others did the same. In particular, we should try to speak
with these developers that have touched the file: Antoine Cellerier and
Christophe Massiot.

Here's the file's Git history, for reference:

http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=history;f=modules/stream_out/transrate/putvlc.h;h=186483305a34dd0b0707f6a61e01b9bcf2c09fb4;hb=HEAD

signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part