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Google Chrome's Inclusion of FFMpeg Vs. the LGPL

Posted by timothy on from the to-make-one's-head-spin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google has recently added FFMpeg to Chrome to better support HTML5's video element. FFMpeg is licensed under LGPL 2.1, which states that 'if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Library by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Library.' Google admits to having obtained a patent license for their use, but still claims they are not violating LGPL. Among the confused we find Håkon Wium Lie and Miguel de Icaza, who wonders what FSF might say. Google doesn't feel like asking FSF for clarification."

1 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Simple solution by petrus4 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    (FSF moderators, start your engines. You'll want to mod this post down to -1, to make sure nobody sees it)

    Mpeg AFAIK is a freely implementable spec. Find a codec for it that uses the BSD license, or write one yourself. Problem solved.

    I never use GPL licensed software at all myself unless it is unavoidable, (gcc/gmake etc, unfortunately) for precisely this type of reason.

    The GPL is only a free license according to Richard Stallman's dishonest redefinition of the word "free." I consider him a fundamentally dishonest individual, and the FSF an immoral organisation, and I do not support him or them.