Which Windows SDK?

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steve
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Re: Which Windows SDK?

Post by steve » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:30 pm

afarina wrote:of course, I managed to recompile Auadacity with Asio support.
It was not really as easy as claimed, indeed.
It is perfectly clear that the source code released on Sorceforge cannot include the proprietary code included in the Steinberg SDK.
This is the same for the other programs which I cited.
I was refering to the fact that it is "forbidden" to release a precompiled version of Audacity with Asio support.
First of all, such "prohibition" is probably lacking any legal value here in Italy, and generally in Europe.
Second, I really do not see what is the problem with the GNU license.
If releasing precompiled code containing portions of not-open-sorce code was forbidden, no Windows or Osx executable could ever be released..
Said that, what I am asking is to be allowed ro redistribute to my students the precompiled version of Audacity with Asio support. Nowadays, most of them do not have enough knowledge for being able to recompile themself...
Which is ecactly the same case as for the other programs cited:
The sorce code does not contain the Steinberg SDK, whilst the precompiled executable does contain it...
Speaking as a layman in these issues:
What license would you intend to provide your modified version of Audacity under? It must not violate GPLv2 or the terms that you agreed to when you downloaded the ASIO SDK. Regardless of the legal standing of software patents in Italy, in order to download the ASIO SDK you are required to agree to terms laid out by Steinberg and that is a legally binding contract.
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Gale Andrews
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Re: Which Windows SDK?

Post by Gale Andrews » Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:16 pm

afarina wrote:If releasing precompiled code containing portions of not-open-sorce code was forbidden, no Windows or Osx executable could ever be released..
I am not a lawyer, but I think where code is part of the OS, this is regarded as a GPL exception:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-license ... atibleLibs .
afarina wrote:what I am asking is to be allowed ro redistribute to my students the precompiled version of Audacity with Asio support. Nowadays, most of them do not have enough knowledge for being able to recompile themself...
Which is ecactly the same case as for the other programs cited:
The sorce code does not contain the Steinberg SDK, whilst the precompiled executable does contain it...
Obviously, permission denied, given our current interpretation that we would be failing to disclose how Audacity supports ASIO. We've discussed linking ASIO dynamically many times and always come to the same conclusion, which conclusion was confirmed by an engineer from Steinberg. See here:
http://audacity.238276.n2.nabble.com/as ... 48961.html
http://audacity.238276.n2.nabble.com/Fr ... ml#a251920

You didn't answer how the other projects are squaring this circle, or if they are just distributing and be damned.

The only "possibly legal" way I know is to use the reverse-engineered VeSTige asio.h header file which has a free licence. And then make the user download the module or shared library built with that open source header file. See here:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/lmms/ ... ?f=7&t=457 .

If you want to discuss this I suggest you subscribe to audacity-devel:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/lis ... city-devel

and post there, citing this Forum thread.

I think you'll be wasting your time, unless you can persuade us to try the reverse-engineered route.



Gale
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