[64studio-devel] [64 Studio] #152: Drop terminatorx package from base install, remove dummy libmad

[Daniel James]

Hi Free,

> For these reasons I still think that the libmad dummy package is a
> good compromise

In that case, there's a couple of things we need to do:

1. Change the package description of our dummy libmad to make it clear 
that this is a non-functional version due to software patent 
enforcement, and that users should replace it with a real libmad package 
from Debian if they wish to have MP3 support in dependent applications.

2. Always version the package so that if people have a Debian apt 
source, the version in Etch won't be replaced by our package. I think 
this is OK at the moment, we have 0.15.1b-1.64studio2 and Etch has 
0.15.1b-2.1

> As for now I've fixed the libmad dummy package version included in the
> last 1.3.0 release, it now behaves better and both terminatorx and
> alsaplayer will just think that an empty MP3 file was selected.

Thanks, terminatorX isn't freaking out any more :-)

> We should probably state clearly in a very visible place that we are
> supporting MP3 playback only via gstreamer, and include some
> instructions on how to get the libmad0 package from Debian as well.

I agree, especially in light of:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/112099/judge-approves-microsoft-mp3-patent-damages.html

It's not likely that these patent pirates will go after small free 
software companies, but unfortunately we can't rule out the possibility 
that they might. Even defending against an ultimately unsustainable 
patent claim costs a great deal of time and money.

> Generally speaking it could be a good idea to write a page (and
> perhaps some ready-made script) indicating users what do they have to
> do in order to get "unofficial" support for technologies that we can't
> officially support, like ffmpeg, MP3, VST, etc.. I don't know if this
> would be legally and morally acceptable, but it would probably make
> the difference for many users that do actually need those things, and
> can't use 64 Studio without them.

That would be useful for users, but I'm reluctant to turn too much 
spotlight on the sites that do provide these packages, in case it helps 
the patent lawyers track them down - it's a difficult situation.

One solution for MP3 would be to create a drop-in replacement for libmad 
that uses Gstreamer with Fluendo's licenced plugin. I don't know how it 
would compare performance-wise.

VST is a different case from MPEG codecs, because the VST headers are 
legally available as a free download from Steinberg; they're just not 
GPL compatible.

Cheers!

Daniel