On 18-02-24 17:39, Dave Yeo wrote:

On 02/18/24 06:12 AM, Roderick Klein wrote:

AIUI, neither SMPlayer nor MPlayer is problematic to distribute, only
some of the codecs.

That is my concern. What codecs can we include and what we cannot
include ?

Can we include the MP3 codec, I seem to remember we did not include in
ArcaOS as we where not certain if we could. mp3licensing.com closed up
shop. But how is that with other audio and video codecs ?

I don't think the codecs are a concern as they're mostly used for
decoding.

Sorry this is not how it works for IP licensing schemes for video/audio
codecs, some of them, but most do not make a difference betweeen
decoding or encoding for licensing purposes.

Possible exceptions are the newest video codecs such as H265.
Perhaps don't include mencoder.exe if worried about encoding.

The orginal quickmotion and Windows 3.1 video codecs at the time we
started on MMOS/2 for ArcaOS where removed as well because of possible
patent issue's.

Any patents that covered those have likely expired along with the MP3
codec.

MP3 is audio. not video, that is covered by different patents and
licenses... Such as Indeo and Quicktime. What pattened is applicable to
MPLAYER I guess nobody knows.

Why not:

1. Split the codecs out into their own package.

I am not an mplayer expert. But I just have a single mplayer exe file,
no codec directory with files. But if you split off the codecs what are
you left with ?

MPlayer currently includes FFmpeg which by itself covers most codecs,
demuxers etc, so there is little need for the old Windows codecs.
What is possibly illegal is the code to crack DVD's. Whether anyone
cares now a days, I don't know. Some Linux's used to download from
Europe to avoid problems. At least Mint doesn't seem to do that anymore.

The big difference is that most Linux distro's are available free of
charge. ArcaOS is a commercial project and that changes the whole
discussion.