[Gdal-dev] GDAL and ECW compressor of the new 3.1 SDK - licensing issues for use of unlimited compression

[Tom Lynch]

Frank Warmerdam <fwarmerdam <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > "GPL-style license: A free license, providing unlimited read/unlimited
compression  for ECW and JPEG
> 2000 in any GPL style application."
> > 
> > Will GDAL move towards using this license version and then include the
unlimited compression to ECW/JP2000?
> 

Hi folks,

It will be possible to build open source applications including the unlimited
compression functionality in the ECW JPEG 2000 SDK, provided they are under a
GPL style license.  In the case of open source applications using GDAL (which
has a less restrictive MIT style license), the application developer would have
to make available:

- the full source code of the application
- the full (possibly modified) GDAL source
- and the full (possibly modified) source of the ECW JPEG 2000 SDK

with their application in order to use the unlimited compression functionality
without a commercial SDK license.  Assuming the GDAL and SDK source was
unmodified, it would probably be sufficient just to make the application code
available to the public and quote the relevant versions of GDAL and the SDK used.

There are some gotchas about "server software" built on the SDK (which is not
permitted under the general terms of the license).  You should contact
queries at ermapper.com.au if you need additional information about this.

> Armin, 
> 
> The issue isn't in GDAL itself, it is really a question of what build of the
> libraries will be included in FWTools.  Currently I used the 3.1 library
> build provided on the ERMapper web site, which I gather is preconfigured
> to enforce the 500MB compress restriction.  I hadn't been intending to 
> build the ECW SDK from source on win32 if I could avoid it, but this might
> be a reason to do so. 
> 
> Of course, it is also possible there is some call I can make with the
> pre-built version that will let me compress larger than 500MB files. 
> 
> If you submit a bugzilla report against FWTools, I will look into the issue
> but no promises on a timeline. 
> 
> Best regards,