to autodownload or not to autodownload

[Kevin Kofler]

Chris Adams <cmadams <at> hiwaay.net> writes:
> Does codecbuddy point to the open source MP3 plugin or a proprietary MP3
> plugin?

Something inbetween... From a pure copyright standpoint, Fluendo's plugin is 
Free Software (MIT X11 license), however the patent license only extends to the 
unmodified binary as distributed by Fluendo (which is also why it can't be 
redistributed in Fedora without violating the "we always build from source" 
policy), which effectively makes it non-Free software for people in countries 
where a patent license is needed (and I assume that's a second reason why 
Fedora doesn't include it). (Of course, that's an improvement over the other 
implementations which can't be distributed at all in the US, but calling that 
arrangement "Free Software" is a bit of a stretch.)

        Kevin Kofler