[Mageia-dev] About panotools patent problem (and other problematic rpms)

Fri Feb 18 10:13:07 CET 2011

Hi everybody !
+Just seen that mikala added panotools in the repository . (some
+algorythms library to build panoramic photographs)
+Very happy with this ! (thanks a lot...)
+
+That's one of the first patent problems we may encounter :
+
+Long time ago, iPIX, a company from USA muliplied patent lawsuit against
+these free algorythms inventor and photographers using them (this
+company is now dead because of bankruptcy but the patent problem is
+still live... )
+
+This patent problem was revoked in Europe by the European Patent Office
+but is still valid in USA and perhaps other countries (Japan...)
+
+There's a limitation to its use if you are in a country where the patent
+problem exists !
+For this reason : Mandriva proposed a rpm limited to a 160° fov (field
+of view) support but we could find in PLF a rpm without limitation (up
+to 360°...).
+The spec was written to build differently for mandriva repo and plf
+repo... and this is the one imported... but it allows to build only a
+limited rpm (as it is not used with plf buildsystem)...
+
+We might have two kinds of libpano :
+- one without any legal issue in core-release,
+- and another without limitation in tainted-release
+
+Same problems will happen for other rpms whose 2 versions coexist (vlc,
+mencoder, etc...
+
+How can this be resolved ?
+For dev : It was easy to use the same spec for buildind mdv and plf
+different rpms
+For users : it was easy to choose between .mdv and .plf because when we
+are in a patent free country we may easily "upgrade" from mdv to plf :
+same version number, but later alphabetical extension.
+
+Is a special extension necessary for tainted rpms ?
+
+
+
+