Talk:LIVE555

Disputed LGPL open source license

See discussion at Debian, https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=981439 :

This package contains non-free code copied from RFC 3550. RFC 3550 was written in 2003, prior to the modifications to the relicensing of RFCs in 2005 to make the code written in RFC licensed under an open source license. Debian confirmed this non-free interpretation in bug 92810. Additionally, in this package, there are several files that have a copyright header but no explicit license attached, other than "all rights reserved". Two even state "this code may not be copied or used in any form without permission from Live Networks, Inc."

Official RFC 3550 link

The problematic RC 3550 files within the live555 codebase (using an unofficial live555 mirror, as the offical sources are provided as a tar.gz archive):

• rtcp_from_spec.h
• rtcp_from_spec.c

The problematic "This code may not be copied or used in any form without permission from Live Networks, Inc." seems to have been resolved by being changed to LGPL, e.g. compare

• the earlier problematic HMAC_SHA1.cpp version
• with the newer LGPL-licensed HMAC_SHA1.cpp version

Abdull (talk) 15:48, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

This issue has now been resolved. All source files in the LIVE555 codebase are now LGPL.~2025-42876-96 (talk) 08:06, 26 December 2025 (UTC)