[linux-audio-dev] initial release of libfst - in-process VST support

Paul Davis paul at linuxaudiosystems.com
Wed Apr 21 16:24:52 UTC 2004


>This is a lovely piece of work.  Very impressive.

Thanks. We are still looking into some outstanding issues with
it. Come learn all about it at ZKM :)

>Can you explain the licensing?  The library appears at first glance to 
>contain both original code and (LGPL) code from other authors, the 
>whole under a GPL To.  

This is an error on my part. I forgot that libwinelib.c was covered by
an LGPL from the mono crew. The license is a bit complex:

   fst/fst/vstwin.c:   GPL (written by torbenh and myself)
   fst/fst/<others>.c: LGPL (written by mono but drastically hacked by us)

I will correct that in a new release.

Our hope is that most of what is in <others.c> can go back into Wine
itself in the not too distance future, which would leave us with just
a GPL'ed tiny library containing only code that Torben or I wrote.

We do not want commercial companies to use this code under an
LPGL-like arrangement. There are already 2 companies selling products
that use Linux to run VST plugins, and we see no point contributing
this particular code to efforts like those.

I imagine that Torben and I could be persuaded otherwise.

>           licence build and run it requires the VST SDK, 
>but this is licensed incompatibly with the GPL.  Does this mean that 

There is no SDK. There is no library, no source files, etc. etc. What
is required is a pair of header files. You do not require any VST
files to run things based on libfst, only to compile them.

My reading of the GPL doesn't suggest to me that this is incompatible
with the GPL. Do you see it otherwise?

>nobody (and in particular no Linux distributor) can redistribute a 
>runnable version of libfst, jack_fst, or any other code that uses 
>libfst, because they can't satisfy section 3 of the GPL by including 
>the VST SDK source?

Almost correct. Only the copyright holders of "any other code" can
work around that, since they are not bound by the GPL as it applies to
their own work. Even then, its a gray area. Its an absurd
situation. Unless you (or anyone else) has any suggestions, it can't
be fixed until Steinberg changes their approach. So guess who you
should be writing to? :))

I will take this up on vst-plugins again.

--p



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