codec buddy, fluendo, etc.

[Max Spevack]

This email is about several topics at once:

(1) CodecBuddy was a Board-level decision that was made with the 
understanding that after it had been in Fedora for a while, we would 
evaluate the various pros and cons of how it was going and figure out if 
it should stay in, be removed, or be modified.

(2) I hear anecdotally that the folks over at Fluendo would enjoy 
having more open conversations with us about CodecBuddy, and how it 
could be improved to make the Fedora experience of it better.  These 
conversations could/should be held in public.

(3) fedora-devel-list is having some reasonably heated discussions about 
the precedents set by the CodecBuddy decisions, and how they do (or 
don't) translate into things like open game engines packaged into Fedora 
which have the ability to download levels or data that are closed 
source, versus open game engines in Fedora that download levels or data 
that are also open.

https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2008-February/msg00476.html
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2008-February/msg00365.html

(4) One of the things that Board has recently said is that it would like 
to start having a public meeting once a month to address some of the 
issues that are getting play in various parts of our community.

I think we have an opportunity here to address all 4 of these topics at 
once, in one or more IRC conversations.

Specific questions to be answered:

0.  Invite the Fluendo folks to join.
1.  What is good about Codec Buddy?
2.  What improvements would we like to see in Codec Buddy and/or 
codeina?
3.  Are there any license, legal, or "open source morality" concerns 
that need to be addressed?
4.  What is the plan for Codec Buddy and Codeina going forward?

Separate, but related:

4.  How do we address the questions and debates raised on the 
fedora-devel-list threads above?

------

If folks would like to break these topics down into further detail via 
email, that is great.

But as this has potential to be a thread of decent length, and as it is 
about several topics that are all somewhat related, I think it's 
important to try to keep in mind the specific problems/questions that we 
are trying to address.

Just starting the conversation.... not really advocating any one 
position or another right now....

--Max