[FFmpeg-devel] Yadif relicensing to LGPL

[Loren Merritt]

OK with me.

On Mon, 28 Oct 2013, Robert Krüger wrote:

> Hi,
>
> it has taken a while but this is now the proposal for the relicensing
> of the filter yadif from GPL to LGPL:
>
> There are a number of sponsors which have offered money for the
> relicensing, in total 18075 Euro.
>
> Michael has asked me to come up with a suggestion for the money split
> and procedures and this is it:
>
> 7000 Euro are paid to Michael directly
>
> Loren Merrit, Daniel Kang, James Darnley and Baptiste Coudurier
> receive 1500 Euro each if they approve and their code is used.
>
> The remaining 5075 Euro are given to the project via an SPI donation,
> so it can be used to cover travel expenses, hardware etc..
>
> The sponsors will commit to paying the money in an email to Michael
> and me, provided the relicensing of yadif with at least its current
> functionality and quality happens before the end of the year.
>
> Payment will happen upon relicensing.
>
> All contributors are again asked to give their approval to a
> relicensing. Only the ones who already gave their approval without
> conditions and have not contributed more code since then theoretically
> do not need to approve again but it would still be nicer if they did.
> The ones who answered to my email by saying something like ÿÿIÿÿm OK
> with relicensing depending on the conditionsÿÿ need to reply stating if
> the conditions described here are OK for them.
>
> Once we know, how many contributors do not approve, someone needs to
> decide, if the relicensing makes sense. First of all, Michael will
> probably have to agree to replace the parts of non-approving
> contributors. How the final decision is then made, is for the project
> to decide (discussion on ffmpeg-devel?).
>
> To fulfill all requirements by sponsors regarding invoices and to not
> have everyone split their payments, my company will act as a trustee
> for a part of the money (11075 Euro) and collect it from the other
> sponsors and then split it up to pay to SPI and the individual
> developers except Michael who will receive his part directly from one
> sponsor as the amount happens to be a perfect match. We have not found
> an easier way to achieve this because of tax and VAT regulations (my
> initial suggestion was to have Michael serve as the trustee).
>
> If someone disagrees with the way the money is split, please speak up
> now. I tried to fulfill the following goals:
> - Reflect the fact that yadif is mostly Michael's code and work
> - Make sure the project as a whole benefits significantly (IMHO, since
> Michael's working on FFmpeg full-time, I think one has to count his
> share as the project's benefit as well)
> - Fulfill conditions by individual contributors with larger contributions
> - Keep it simple
> - Make it as fair as possible
>
> The last point is of course never really possible and don't bash me
> for misjudging the individual contributions as it is most likely
> because I am not qualified enough to differentiate/evaluate them
> properly. I just hope everyone looks at this and does not feel treated
> too unfairly, thinks it is good for the project and can live with it.
> Let me also add that, should we make this too complicated, e.g. by
> delaying the whole thing because of endless discussions, there is a
> very concrete possibility none of the money will ever reach the
> project because sponsors might look for alternatives and make the
> whole thing fall apart. It was not easy to get everyone to agree to
> such a pragmatic "uncorporate" approach to a thing like this.
>
> I have put all yadif contributors on cc of whom I do not know that
> they are subscribed to ffmpeg-devel.
>
> People who have yadif commits (including mplayer before the port to
> ffmpeg, ffmpeg and merges from libav) and are asked to agree:
>
> Michael Niedermayer
> Baptiste Coudurier
> Stefano Sabatini
> Mans Rullgard
> Aurelien Jacobs
> Anton Khirnov
> Reimar Döffinger
> Luca Barbato
> Clément Bÿÿsch
> Diego Biurrun
> Nicolas George
> Carl Eugen Hoyos
> Uoti Urpala
> Loren Merritt
> Tim Woj
> Ivan Kalvachev
> Joakim Plate
> ÿÿsmail Dönmez
> James Darnley
> Daniel Kang
> Paul B Mahol
>
> I would be grateful for an independent check of this list.
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert

--Loren Merritt