License?

[ghost]

Hi! Does this project have any license of sort? This project looks awesome, but I can't legally use it without one.
Something like MIT License or BSD would be really cool.

[CoolOppo]

@joncampbell123 please respond! Been wondering about the license too.

[CoolOppo]

Oh also, @joncampbell123, it also may not be legal the way you're using dependencies without stating them in your license! Not entirely sure and it could be fine, just thought I would mention that in case it could save some hassle down the road.

Edit:

I am not a lawyer, but I believe since FFmpeg is under LGPL v2.1, the following applies:

A program that contains no derivative of any portion of the Library, but is designed to work with the Library by being compiled or linked with it, is called a "work that uses the Library". Such a work, in isolation, is not a derivative work of the Library, and therefore falls outside the scope of this License.

Now this is still a bit muddy, because you use the function names, etc., from the library, but you probably are fine without an LGPL license at least since you're not deriving from the library directly and modifying or redistributing it. You still should add a license (I nominate MIT).

[joncampbell123]

I made this as a fun little experiment, so what license to apply was not really on my mind at the time.
I'm fine with it as open source as long as people don't claim it as their own, like they wrote it. I also believe the code as written can serve as a useful example on how to use the FFMPEG libraries.

[ghost]

Hi @joncampbell123 ,

Thank you for giving us some feedback about the license.

What you said is exactly why the project should have a open source license, otherwise it's not really open source and legally no one can use, share, improve or study it.

I completely agree with you, no one should be able to claim it as their own which is something covered by most licenses (of course this doesn't stop bad actors but not making a project open-source won't either).

I would appreciate if you could take a look at some licenses here https://choosealicense.com/licenses/ (if you haven't already) and maybe choose one for your project.

Thanks.