Changeset 1edfc91 for x

Timestamp:

10/19/2024 08:10:15 AM (36 hours ago)

Author:

Xi Ruoyao <xry111@…>

Branches:

trunk

Children:

56fc7750

Parents:

e29beb9a

Message:

mesa: Enable all video codecs

Since Mesa 22.2.0 many codecs are disabled by default to avoid some
potential patent issue (VC-1 and H26[45] uses many patents owned by MPEG
LA, and some GPU vendors are not paying the patent fee correctly).

MPEG LA allows to use its patents freely if the software is distributed
in the source code form so it shouldn't be an issue for most BLFS users
who don't distribute the binaries.

Most binary distros, for example, Debian, also enable these codecs.
Debian explains:

In that case intel-media-va-driver and i965-va-driver wouldn't be
distributed either.

If I understand correctly, they are distributed because they don't
contain the codec logic, only the data structures. The logic is
defined somewhere else (gpu firmware or other blobs).

So if a GPU vendor does not pay the patent fee, its firmwares should
have been removed from linux-firmware.git anyway and the Mesa driver
shouldn't be an issue. But let's be safe than sorry and tell the users
not to distribute the compiled binaries unless they've contacted the
lawyer.

Link: ​https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1016687

File:

• x/installing/mesa.xml (modified) (2 diffs)

x/installing/mesa.xml

@@ -394 +394 @@
       -D vulkan-drivers=auto   \
       -D valgrind=disabled     \
+      -D video-codecs=all      \
       -D libunwind=disabled    &&
 
 ninja</userinput></screen>
+
+    <warning>
+      <para>
+        Please ask your lawyer or remove the
+        <parameter>-D video-codecs=all</parameter> option if you will
+        distribute the compiled Mesa libraries and drivers to others.
+      </para>
+    </warning>
 
     <para>
@@ -602 +611 @@
       the usage of Valgrind during the build process. Remove this parameter
       if you have Valgrind installed, and wish to check for memory leaks.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      <parameter>-D video-codecs=all</parameter>: This parameter enables
+      building codecs for video formats covered by third-party patents.
     </para>