Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] License Concerns about ladspa.h and GPL programs
From: Conrad Parker (conrad_AT_vergenet.net)
Date: Fri Mar 02 2001 - 01:47:30 EET
Richard, Paul, Stefan: could you *please* make the redistribution/licensing
terms of ladspa.h more explicit? It is currently not Open Source, and
cannot be distributed eg. in Debian.
The only mention of usage conditions in ladspa.h is the statement "The
LADSPA plugin API is free to use".
I searched the mail archive, and the only mention of ladspa.h licensing
was in Junichi's thread in December, where he answered himself with:
Ah, found it on the webpage.
"Freely distributed". Whatever that means.
(http://eca.cx/lad/2000/Dec/0301.html)
[nb. I could not find this phrase on the main web page, or in the
LADSPA SDK pages.]
This does not explicitly meet the Open Source Definition (OSD):
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.html
In particular, section 3 of the OSD requires:
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and
must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the
license of the original software.
"Use" of the API does not imply that modified versions of the file
ladspa.h may be redistributed. Some may argue that terms of API usage
do not even imply anything about redistribution of the particular file
ladspa.h.
I'm well aware that this sounds like pointless nitpicking.
The OSD also forms the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), which all
software must comply to in order to be distributed as part of Debian:
http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
By not meeting the DFSG, ladspa.h, and by extension packages that
redistribute ladspa.h, cannot be included in Debian. This was pointed
out to me by the Debian maintainer of Sweep, who tells me he has created
a separate "non-free" package for the LADSPA-specific portion of Sweep;
ie. the LADSPA functionality is not included in the main package.
Apparently this is the policy that should apply to all packages that
contain ladspa.h, whether they be individual programs with their own
copy or a base ladspa-dev package.
All that is required to resolve this is the inclusion of explicit licensing
terms in ladspa.h, for example a template BSD-style header can be found
at:
http://www.debian.org/misc/bsd.license
For a different and more terse version, see for example
/usr/src/linux/timex.h
Sorry for the rant. Everyone here's working on the assumption that LADSPA
is open source in spirit, so could the copyright holders please put it in
writing or respond to the contrary if its not?
Conrad.
On Fri, Mar 02, 2001 at 01:36:13AM +0900, Junichi Uekawa wrote:
> In Thu, 1 Mar 2001 11:46:26 +1100 Conrad cum veritate scripsit :
>
> > no, for something to be GPL-compatible it only needs to be
> > redistributable
> > and relicensable, and mustn't require advertising clauses etc. [There's
> > probably a few other details I've missed, but it doesn't need to be
> > GPL].
> >
> > BSD-style licenses are usually suitable for this kind of thing.
>
> I do not have anything at hand which gives any clue as to the usage
> condition of ladspa.h.
>
> The only clue is that "LADSPA plugin API is free to use" which
> does not explicitly allow I can randomly distribute modified copies of ladspa.h
>
> Or am I missing some documentation?
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