[FFmpeg-devel] GP License question

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 08:58:24AM -0400, Aaron Boxer wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 8:48 AM, Ismail Donmez <ismail at i10z.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Aaron Boxer <boxerab at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Carl,
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 8:32 AM, Carl Eugen Hoyos <cehoyos at ag.or.at>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Aaron Boxer <boxerab <at> gmail.com> writes:
> > >>
> > >> > I am developing a jpeg 2000 codec licensed under Affero GPL.
> > >>
> > >> Why don't you work on fixing the remaining issues with
> > >> FFmpeg's implementation instead?
> > >>
> > >
> > > That would be OpenJPEG.  I have made quite a few contributions to
> > OpenJPEG.
> > > For a number of reason which I don't want to bore you with, I decided to
> > > fork the project.
> > >
> > > Now, since parts of FFMpeg are licensed under GPL 2, and usage of them
> > > flips the license to GPL 2,
> > > it seems to me that adding an Affero component should not be a big deal.
> > >
> > > Or am I wrong?  Someone mentioned EVIL :)
> >
> > AGPL is incompatible with GPLv2:
> >
> > "Please note that the GNU AGPL is not compatible with GPLv2. It is
> > also technically not compatible with GPLv3 in a strict sense: you
> > cannot take code released under the GNU AGPL and convey or modify it
> > however you like under the terms of GPLv3, or vice versa. However, you
> > are allowed to combine separate modules or source files released under
> > both of those licenses in a single project, which will provide many
> > programmers with all the permission they need to make the programs
> > they want. See section 13 of both licenses for details."
> >
> > See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#AGPLv3.0
> 
> 
> Thanks. I don't mean to start a nasty license argument here, just trying to
> understand things better.
> 
> Yes, AGPL is not compatible with GPL v2, but LGPL v2 is compatible with
> AGPL,  i.e. FFMPeg using AGPL component
> can simply be released under AGPL.  Not to create an AGPL fork of FFMPeg,
> just to offer this option for people
> who want to use the AGPL component.  This is the same situation as FFMpeg
> being released under GPL v2 when
> using GPL v2 components.

And then people use that FFmpeg with GPLv2 applications (MPlayer maybe?)
and you have an incomprehensible license mess.
I can only agree with the others: Adding AGPL into this is a horrible
idea.