[vorbis] Vorbis licensing...

[Jack Moffitt]

> We spent a little time here taking a look at 
> the Vorbis licensing scheme and ran into some 
> possible issues. In particular, the Vorbis 
> FAQ page here says that the LGPL license applies
> to Vorbis libraries and GPL applies to source 
> code (at least that's what I gather).

Both licenses apply to source code.

> Reading the text of these Gnu licenses implies 
> that we cannot compile the source code into our
> executable. It implies that we can distribute 
> a DLL with Vorbis in it and that if we have a 
> modified version of that DLL, we need to provide
> source code for it.

You can distirbute a dll with vorbis in it, but you have to make sure
source to that dll is available (if ti's the normal vorbis dll's you can
just poitn them to us :)

> Is this correct? More in particular, exactly how
> can or can't we use Vorbis in a commercial application.

You aren't allowed to use GPL things in a closed source application.
GPLed items currently include: example code, ogg123, and various tools.

LGPL applies to all code that is a library.  Like libogg, libvorbis,
libvorbisfile, libao, etc.

If you use GPL code in your application, your application mustu also be
GPL.  With the LGPL you may use the LGPLed code as long as it's
dynamically linked. Ie, if the LGPLed code is a dll, the DLL must be
LGPL, but the rest of the app that links in the DLL does not need to be.

> This specific question is not directly answered in 
> any way in the FAQ, yet it is exactly the question 
> we want to know the answer to.

I guess it assumes more knowledge of the subject than most people
reading the faq will likely have.  I'll see about having kim update it.

Unless you guys _can't_ use a dll with vorbis in it, you should be in
the clear, which is why those have the commercial friendly LGPL.

jack.

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