[linux-audio-dev] fst, VST 2.0, kontakt

[Patrick Shirkey]

Lars Luthman wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-07-01 at 23:53 +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>> Dave Robillard wrote:
>>> On Sat, 2006-07-01 at 17:43 +0200, Luis Garrido wrote:
>>>>> LinuxSampler is not free software or open source software.
>>>>>
>>>> (sigh, must we, really?)
>>>>
>>>> It depends on who you choose to side with.
>>> Forget "free software" then, I don't mean to start any debate, and
>>> there's no "sides" here.  Just that people are talking about writing
>>> open source alternatives to things (Kontakt) and referring to
>>> LinuxSampler as the project to do so, so it should be pointed out so
>>> people aren't misled.
>>>
>>> LinuxSampler is not open source.
>>>
>> It's veeeery close though.
>>
>> It's just using a modified GPL License which isn't clearly labelled as 
>> such. IANAL but that makes LinuxSampler illegally licensed if someone 
>> wanted to make a fuss about it. They call it GPL version 2 or 3 but it 
>> has been modified so that nullifies it AFAIK. If they don't fix it and 
>> someone does use their software to make a financial gain then it could 
>> very easily be argued that the software is licensed as GPL 2 or 3 and 
>> that makes it 100% open source.
> 
> I don't think so. If the GPL is combined with some other license
> agreement or restriction that is not compatible with the GPL, it
> automatically cancels itself (see paragraph 7,
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt ) and normal copyright law applies.
> Which in most countries means that only the actual copyright owner (if
> there is a single one) is allowed to distribute it. 
> 

So then it is definitely not open source due to the current license.

I hope they fix it soon.

-- 
Patrick Shirkey - Boost Hardware Ltd.
Http://www.boosthardware.com
Http://lau.linuxaudio.org - The Linux Audio Users guide
========================================

"Anything your mind can see you can manifest physically, then it will 
become reality" - Macka B