Re: MP3 decoder packaged with XMMS
On Sat, 16 Jul 2005, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 12, 2005 at 08:06:56PM +0300, Don Armstrong wrote:
> > On Tue, 12 Jul 2005, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> > > Maybe it's time to create some sort of patent/ftp/XXX policy
> > > then.
> >
> > Feel free to propose one; however you should attempt to discover
> > first what the "effective" policy is that the ftpmasters are
> > imposing upon the archive.
>
> I don't think I'm the right person to propose such a policy since I
> am not a Debian developer.
That doesn't mean that you can't write it and try to get developers to
second it.[1]
> If I had to propose one, it would have to be applied to both new and
> existing packages.
That's kind of the point of a policy, yes.
> > Which packages exactly are being discussed here?
>
> Sorry, I misspoke regarding MP3 encoders, Debian does not include
> MP3 encoders, it does include *MPEG* encoders, like FFmpeg, while it
> does not include MEncoder.
And what patents are we refering to here that are actively being
enforced?
> Debian includes many multimedia players, xine, vlc and avifile being
> the most popular examples while it does not include MPlayer.
These are decoders for the most part.
Don Armstrong
1: Of course, the fact that no developer has bothered to write such a
thing should give you pause; we clearly feel that the ftpmasters are
up to the task of setting a sane policy in this regard and we don't
need to micromanage them.
--
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are
not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is
not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers,
the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a
way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is
humanity hanging on a cross of iron.
-- Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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