Kaltura ships ffmpeg with --non-free and violates (L)GPL

[Kieran Kunhya]

Following discussion on IRC I put this here:

Kaltura's buildscripts include ffmpeg built with non-free:
​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/blob/e1c259a8b04bbcdb1134b5fb2621d3286c775e49/deb/kaltura-ffmpeg/debian/rules

This was reported to them but no change for two months:
​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/issues/392

[Cigaes]

The script itself is not infringement. Do they distribute the resulting binaries?

[Kieran Kunhya]

Yes: ​http://installrepo.kaltura.org/releases/

[jess portnoy]

Hello,

I would just like to update you that we are in the process of attempting to utilise ffmpeg's internal implementation of AAC, mentioned here:
​https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/HighQualityAudio

That would mean we can eliminate use of FDK_AAC and libfaac and therefore will no longer require the nonfree compilation flag.

I will keep you posted shortly.

Thanks,

[jess portnoy]

Hello,

We've released new packages that do not link against FDK and faac.
Specs can be found here:
​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/blob/Jupiter-10.17.0/RPM/SPECS/kaltura-ffmpeg.spec
​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/blob/Jupiter-10.17.0/RPM/SPECS/kaltura-ffmpeg-aux.spec

​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/blob/Jupiter-10.17.0/deb/kaltura-ffmpeg/debian/rules
​https://github.com/kaltura/platform-install-packages/blob/Jupiter-10.17.0/deb/kaltura-ffmpeg-aux/debian/rules

In light of this, I feel this can be closed.
Please let me know should you have additional questions/concerns.

Thank you,

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

I just downloaded the fine kaltura-ffmpeg2.1.3_amd64.deb (size 13073854, md5sum 045ce00de2b68dba8469e39111cffa08): It is a binary distribution of FFmpeg, contains non-free libraries and was compiled with the --enable-nonfree option.

[jess portnoy]

Hello,

You did not specify where you got the deb from but I assume it was from:
​http://installrepo.kaltura.org/releases/kaltura-ffmpeg2.1.3_amd64.deb

This was an old left over which I just deleted. It was never actually used when installing Kaltura CE nor was it referenced in any of our repos.

Note that since we make use of a CDN, it may take time for it to be updated cross all edges.

If you see it anywhere else, please let me know.

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

Where can I find the current installer?

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

The MEncoder distribution I found still contains a non-free version of libavcodec linked against libfaac.