Re: [Linphone-developers] linphone-desktop package and OpenH264 codec

[Bernhard Schmidt]

Am 29.12.20 um 15:56 schrieb Greg Troxel:

Hi,

> > But yes, thinking about it again I think the best option would be to
> > disable this downloading thing. If I understand
> > linphone-app/src/components/codecs/VideoCodecsModel.cpp correctly it is
> > downloading from a http-location without any verification.
> >
> > Hoping for msx264...
>
> I am not the least bit sure I understand, but it seems the biggest
> problem is that the H.264 codec has serious patent issues, and there is
> some notion that if you run the binary from Cisco you are covered by
> their license.
>
>    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding
>
> So it may be that H.264 is fundamentally incompataible with Free
> Software.  Having source, and a binary, and being able to distribute the
> source, and distribute and use the binary, but not being able to use a
> binary compiled from the source is a fail.

Indeed, but somehow x264 seems to work around both source code license 
(probably being a clean-room implementation) and the royalities. It has 
been in Debian main for years.

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/x264
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X264

So getting msx264 into a usable shape would be the easiest way for Debian.

> It's great that linphone has VP8, as that appears to be Free compatible.

True, but most hardphones don't support it. Our yealink desktop phones 
actually do (not tested yet), but the 2N door station only supports H264.

Bernhard