LGPL Compliance for Commercial Faust Plugins in HISE

[jeffd]

@David-Healey

is this problematic --- using the demos.lib from faust?

[jeffd]

@David-Healey

im seeing that im using "GPL2+" in my faust delay i compiled in the .cpp file.

so that means I cant use this commercially?

unless I am misunderstanding something.

[David Healey]

@jeffd said in LGPL Compliance for Commercial Faust Plugins in HISE:

so that means I cant use this commercially?

Commercial has nothing to do with the license, so don't worry about that.

The license just determines what code you can include in your project. If you are releasing your project under the GNU GPLv3 (this is what HISE uses) then you can only include code that is compatible with that license.

If you are releasing your project as closed source (HISE proprietary license) then you can't include any GPL code, unless you have a license from the author of that code which allows you to.

The GPL is generally backwards compatible so if the code you want to use is GPLv2 or later (I think that's what the + means here) then you can use it in a GPLv3 project.

[jeffd]

@David-Healey

if i release a plugin without a HISE proprietary license, this means that
Anyone could legally, rebuild it, and redistribute it (even sell it). I dont think anyone would but im just trying to understand the difference.

[David Healey]

@jeffd Correct

[jeffd]

@David-Healey
and so then copy protection is kinda of a fools errand at that point.

[David Healey]

@jeffd said in LGPL Compliance for Commercial Faust Plugins in HISE:

and so then copy protection is kinda of a fools errand at that point.

I think it is at any point ;)

[jeffd]

@David-Healey
yeah it is i guess. haha

[jeffd]

@jeffd

so im guessing that these libraries
https://faustdoc.grame.fr/examples/reverb/
..you cant use them in your projects with a proprietary license.

the demo libraries show up as GPL2+ in the metadata.

[David Healey]

@jeffd If it's using the STK license then it looks like it's basically the same as the MIT so it is compatible with GPL projects (I think that was mentioned earlier in this thread actually)

https://github.com/thestk/stk/blob/master/LICENSE

[jeffd]

@David-Healey

this is in my project (sorry, this is kinda confusing to me)

m->declare("author", "FangTooth Instruments");
m->declare("basics.lib/name", "Faust Basic Element Library");
m->declare("basics.lib/tabulateNd", "Copyright (C) 2023 Bart Brouns bart@magnetophon.nl");
m->declare("basics.lib/version", "1.19.1");
m->declare("compile_options", "-lang cpp -rui -nvi -ct 1 -cn _delay -scn ::faust::dsp -es 1 -mcd 16 -mdd 1024 -mdy 33 -uim -single -ftz 0");
m->declare("delays.lib/fdelay1a:author", "Julius O. Smith III");
m->declare("delays.lib/fdelay4:author", "Julius O. Smith III");
m->declare("delays.lib/fdelayltv:author", "Julius O. Smith III");
m->declare("delays.lib/name", "Faust Delay Library");
m->declare("delays.lib/version", "1.1.0");
m->declare("description", "Reverb based on Faust std library greyhole (re.greyhole).");
m->declare("filename", "delay.dsp");
m->declare("filters.lib/lowpass0_highpass1", "MIT-style STK-4.3 license");
m->declare("filters.lib/name", "Faust Filters Library");
m->declare("filters.lib/nlf2:author", "Julius O. Smith III");
m->declare("filters.lib/nlf2:copyright", "Copyright (C) 2003-2019 by Julius O. Smith III jos@ccrma.stanford.edu");
m->declare("filters.lib/nlf2:license", "MIT-style STK-4.3 license");
m->declare("filters.lib/tf1:author", "Julius O. Smith III");
m->declare("filters.lib/tf1:copyright", "Copyright (C) 2003-2019 by Julius O. Smith III jos@ccrma.stanford.edu");
m->declare("filters.lib/tf1:license", "MIT-style STK-4.3 license");
m->declare("filters.lib/version", "1.3.0");
m->declare("maths.lib/author", "GRAME");
m->declare("maths.lib/copyright", "GRAME");
m->declare("maths.lib/license", "LGPL with exception");
m->declare("maths.lib/name", "Faust Math Library");
m->declare("maths.lib/version", "2.8.0");
m->declare("name", "Greyhole Reverb");
m->declare("oscillators.lib/name", "Faust Oscillator Library");
m->declare("oscillators.lib/version", "1.5.1");
m->declare("platform.lib/name", "Generic Platform Library");
m->declare("platform.lib/version", "1.3.0");
m->declare("reverbs.lib/greyhole:author", "Julian Parker, bug fixes and minor interface changes by Till Bovermann");
m->declare("reverbs.lib/greyhole:license", "GPL2+");
m->declare("reverbs.lib/name", "Faust Reverb Library");
m->declare("reverbs.lib/version", "1.3.0");
m->declare("signals.lib/name", "Faust Signal Routing Library");
m->declare("signals.lib/version", "1.6.0");
m->declare("version", "1.0");
}

[David Healey]

@jeffd said in LGPL Compliance for Commercial Faust Plugins in HISE:

this is kinda confusing to me

Anything that is STK, LGPL, or MIT is fine in a GPLv3 project.

[jeffd]

@David-Healey
but this right here: m->declare("reverbs.lib/greyhole:license", "GPL2+");
m->declare("reverbs.lib/name", "Faust Reverb Library");

is not,
which is actually the only thing im using. im guessing everyting else is part of that dsp?

[David Healey]

@jeffd I don't follow, is that two declarations for the same library? I haven't used faust for years so I'm not familiar with the syntax.

[jeffd]

@David-Healey honestly.. i have no idea

[dannytaurus]

@David-Healey Not only do Faust libraries have independent licenses, but also individual function within a single library can have different licenses.

[dannytaurus]

@jeffd Is your project intended to be open-source or closed-source?

If it's open-source, I believe you can do pretty much anything with Faust.

If it's closed-source (meaning you won't be making the source code/project publicly available) then you need to be wary of the licenses for all the Faust libraries and individual functions that you use.

[jeffd]

@dannytaurus

ok so i asked someone at GRAME and he said:

greyhole is now MIT licenced : https://github.com/grame-cncm/faustlibraries/blob/master/reverbs.lib#L1051,

so it looks like everything is ok to use even with a proprietary license.

but maybe thats not accurate?

[dannytaurus]

@jeffd You can check any Faust library's license, or an individual function's license, from the GitHub page. I would always check yourself rather than replying on someone else's answer.

Even if you're only using greyhole, and even though it's MIT licensed, you still need to check what other functions/helpers/etc that it calls. They need to have permissive licenses too.

[jeffd]

@dannytaurus

is this not it here? https://github.com/grame-cncm/faustlibraries/blob/master/reverbs.lib#L1051,

or is there somewhere else to look?