Hans,
Here is the answer which I got about the question of GPL->LGPL licensing
in regard to the sn9c2028 decompression code.
Theodore Kilgore
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 13:19:46 -0400
From: Harald <hxr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Theodore Kilgore <kilgota@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Licensing question regarding SN9C2028 decompression
Hi Theodore,
I give you permission to use the SN9C2028 code with a LGPL license.
I am the current maintainer of the macam project. Most of the code that has
been
added in the last few years is mine. However, I did not originate the SN9C2028
code. I have messed with it a lot, it may not bear much resemblance to the
original
code. I am sure that whatever code you based your version on has been modified
as well. I doubt that you use Objective-C for example...
It is likely that technically all of macam should be under LGPL anyway, as it
works
as a plug-in component to QuickTime. So from an "intent" perspective, that is
how
the macam code is used anyway. You should be able to use it the same way.
I have never been able to contact the originator (mattik) of the project! I
became admin
through an intermediate admin (dirkx). We're all three admins, but neither of
the others
have contributed anything in the last 5 years.
I hope this helps,
Harald
On May 24, 2009, at 13:40, Theodore Kilgore wrote:
Harald,
Right now I am working on putting streaming support for the SN9C2028 cameras
(supported by libgphoto2/camlibs/sonix as still cameras) into the Linux
kernel, as part of linux/drivers/media/video/gspca. In doing so, there is a
licensing conflict, as follows:
The Linux kernel is of course GPL licensed, as we are aware. However, the
philosophy of what the kernel is supposed to do with things like video
devices is, it takes care of creating a device dev/video and it takes care of
basic infrastructural things such as how to talk to the camera, to initialize
it, to turn it off, to tell it to stream, and to detect and save packets and
to construct frames.
The code for things like decompression has been deliberately moved away from
the kernel code, and the idea is to put all that stuff into a library called
libv4l, which then provides a unified interface for userspace streaming apps.
The problem is, the decompression code would need to go into part of libv4l,
namely libv4lconvert. And the license for libv4l and everything in it is
LGPL, not GPL.
As the originator of the decompression function for the Sonix cameras, are
you willing to give permission for taking my version of the code from GPL to
LGPL? Or can you suggest some other appropriate course of action?
Theodore Kilgore
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