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For the confused: * VLC for iOS was ported by a 3rd party, not by the VLC developers * VLC and most included libraries are licensed under GPLv2 which has spec

For the confused: * VLC for iOS was ported by a 3rd party, not by the VLC developers * VLC and most included libraries are licensed under GPLv2 which has specific requirements around redistribution and rights of users/developers * Apple's app store policies are in violation of the terms outlined in GPLv3 (see: anti-Tivoization clauses) so software with any GPLv3 components can not be released in the app store * Apple's app store policies also used to (and may still) be in violation of the terms outlined in GPLv2 so software with any GPLv2 components can not be released in the app store. The FSF did an analysis of the older App Store rules and determined that they were incompatible with v2 and v3 licensed code. They have not re-examined the new policy but some developers believe it is still incompatible with v2 as well as v3. * The code in VLC itself is not owned by a VLC organization. Like most GPL projects, it is owned by the individual contributors. * Rémi Denis-Courmont has written code that is included in VLC and is used in the iOS port and believes this was done in violation of GPLv2 (and, thus, copyright law). Some other VLC developers agree with him. * Some VLC developers disagree with Rémi's interpretation * Some VLC members have been accused of trying to censor Rémi's posts on the topic by removing his RSS feed from the VLC meta-feed * For those unfamiliar with the details and goals of the GPL, Wikipedia is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License Anything missing?

danieldk 16y ago
VLC endorses the iOS application in the App Store (at the time of linking): http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html
- JohnTHaller 16y ago
  It would be more accurate to state that "the VLC website maintainers have linked to it". It is disingenuous to say VLC "approves" of it as some developers, including Rémi Denis-Courmont, do not and see it as a GPL and copyright violation. Remember, Rémi is one of the core developers (and the top contributor to VLC according to Ohloh's stats: https://www.ohloh.net/p/vlc/contributors https://www.ohloh.net/p/vlc/contributors ), so saying 'VLC approves of the iOS port' is just incorrect.
  - danieldk 16y ago
    I know that in an open source project there are individual opinions. But you would think that if something is listed on the website, it is trustable information, provided by the project. If not, what is the project's official source of information?
    - JohnTHaller 16y ago
      The opinion of the operator of the website is not necessarily representative of the developers. And the project leaders don't own the copyright to Remi's thousands of contributions, so they can't choose to re-license it or give Apple permission to release the app under any additional licensing or obligations above and beyond the exact stipulations of the GPL.

danieldk 16y ago

VLC endorses the iOS application in the App Store (at the time of linking): http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html

JohnTHaller 16y ago
It would be more accurate to state that "the VLC website maintainers have linked to it". It is disingenuous to say VLC "approves" of it as some developers, including Rémi Denis-Courmont, do not and see it as a GPL and copyright violation. Remember, Rémi is one of the core developers (and the top contributor to VLC according to Ohloh's stats: https://www.ohloh.net/p/vlc/contributors https://www.ohloh.net/p/vlc/contributors ), so saying 'VLC approves of the iOS port' is just incorrect.
- danieldk 16y ago
  I know that in an open source project there are individual opinions. But you would think that if something is listed on the website, it is trustable information, provided by the project. If not, what is the project's official source of information?
  - JohnTHaller 16y ago
    The opinion of the operator of the website is not necessarily representative of the developers. And the project leaders don't own the copyright to Remi's thousands of contributions, so they can't choose to re-license it or give Apple permission to release the app under any additional licensing or obligations above and beyond the exact stipulations of the GPL.