Re: reasons for split of libavcodec54 and libavcodec-extra-54, missing codecs and a metapackage.

[Nicolas George <george@nsup.org>]

Le nonidi 29 brumaire, an CCXXIII, Jonas Smedegaard a écrit :
> Possibly we can simplify even further:
> 
>   * Have package libavcodec-extra-NN provide virtual libavcodec-extra
>     (i.e. non-versioned name of itself)
>   * Let GPLv2 packages conflict against libavcodec-extra (i.e. not 
>     replace but complement existing suggests/recommends/depends).
> 
> How does that sound?

I think this discussion has lost something from view:

It is perfectly legal and compatible with the license to USE a GPLv2 program
with a GPLv3 shared library or the other way around. Licenses can only
control distribution, not use, and the GPL does not try to do so.

Therefore, I do not believe this kind of conflict is in the users' best
interest.

Actually, there is not much that Debian must do to ensure compliance with
the licenses. Possibly prevent BUILD a binary .deb package from GPLv2 source
when the GPLv3 library is installed.

IANAL, but IMHO the core of the problem is that the distribution constraints
from the GPL are easy to circumvent with shared libraries. And FFmpeg, with
its optional license settings, already did all the work needed to do so.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George