[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH v2] avcodec/nvenc: Include NVENC SDK header

[Andreas Cadhalpun]

On 12.12.2015 12:55, Nicolas George wrote:
> Le primidi 21 frimaire, an CCXXIV, Carl Eugen Hoyos a écrit :
>> I am glad we agree that there is no difference (license-wise) if 
>> a library is linked statically, dynamically or via dynamic 
>> loading;-)
> 
> You are, unfortunately, completely wrong. It makes all the difference in the
> world. Static linking is done under the distributor's responsibility while
> dynamic loading (pure dlopen()) happens under the recipient's sole
> responsibility. The only case where dlopen() would cause a license problem
> is if someone wanted to distribute a core dump of the resulting process.

I don't agree as I have already explained previously.

> There is a very simple rule of thumb to apply here: can we build the ffmpeg
> binary on a system without libnvenc.so? If the answer is yes, then there is
> no way the license of libnvenc.so could affect the distribution of the
> binary.

The distribution of the binary is only affected by it's license, not by
made-up rules of thumb. Thus you have to base your arguments on the former,
not the latter.

Have a look at what some of the proprietary licenses require for distribution
that has absolutely nothing to do with how the binary was built.
For example, a license could allow distribution only under full moon,
independently of when the binary was built.

Or, to take a more realistic example, the NVIDIA Software License [1] allows
redistribution of it's software only if it is "designed exclusively for use
on the Linux or FreeBSD operating systems". That's completely independent
of where or how the binary was built.

Best regards,
Andreas


1: http://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownload-March2009/licence.php?lang=us