Re: [ITP] openh264 (2.3.1)

[Lee <ler762@gmail.com>]

On 2/6/23, Yaakov Selkowitz via Cygwin-apps <cygwin-apps@cygwin.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 2023-02-05 at 22:11 -0700, Brian Inglis wrote:
>> On 2023-02-05 19:44, Yaakov Selkowitz via Cygwin-apps wrote:
>> > On Sun, 2023-02-05 at 17:37 +0900, Takashi Yano via Cygwin-apps wrote:
>> > > I would like to propose new package openh264, which is
>> > > a H264 video codec library. This is needed by ffmpeg
>> > > package I had proposed, and also provided for ffmpeg-free
>> > > package in fedora.
>> > >
>> > > I already prepared the package at the following location.
>> > >
>> > > https://tyan0.yr32.net/cygwin/x86_64/release/openh264/
>>
>> > Unfortunately, this cannot be included in the Cygwin distribution.
>> > Cisco's
>> > patent license only covers binaries they distribute.  Fedora has a
>> > special
>> > arrangement with Cisco where they build their RPMs on Fedora
>> > infrastructure,
>> > but the packages are hosted by Cisco in a separate repository.
>>
>> http://www.openh264.org/
>> "Cisco has taken their H.264 implementation, and open sourced it under BSD
>>
>> license terms. Development and maintenance will be overseen by a board
>> from
>> industry and the open source community. Furthermore, we have provided a
>> binary
>> form suitable for inclusion in applications across a number of different
>> operating systems, and make this binary module available for download
>> from
>> the
>> Internet. We will not pass on our MPEG-LA licensing costs for this
>> module,
>> and
>> based on the current licensing environment, this will effectively make
>> H.264
>> free for use on supported platforms."
>
> This is exactly the point.  Cisco paid for a license, but that license is
> limited to binaries they distribute.

IANAL but it sure looks like redistribution is allowed:

cisco/openh264 is licensed under the
BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License

  https://github.com/cisco/openh264/blob/master/LICENSE
    <.. snip ..>
  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification,
are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Lee