I dont think its a bug. The point is the potential legal risk, this patent may expose the Debian project and the Debian users.
On 9. August 2014 15:45:15 MESZ, ow...@bugs.debian.org wrote: >This is an automatic notification regarding your Bug report >which was filed against the libgl1-mesa-dri package: > >#757393: mesa: possible patent issue: ARB_texture_float: US Patent >#6,650,327 > >It has been closed by Julien Cristau <jcris...@debian.org>. > >Their explanation is attached below along with your original report. >If this explanation is unsatisfactory and you have not received a >better one in a separate message then please contact Julien Cristau ><jcris...@debian.org> by >replying to this email. > > >-- >757393: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=757393 >Debian Bug Tracking System >Contact ow...@bugs.debian.org with problems > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Von: Julien Cristau <jcris...@debian.org> >An: Georg Gast <ge...@schorsch-tech.de>, 757393-d...@bugs.debian.org >Gesendet: Sat Aug 09 15:42:00 MESZ 2014 >Betreff: Re: Bug#757393: mesa: possible patent issue: >ARB_texture_float: US Patent #6,650,327 > >I don't believe this is a bug. > >Cheers, >Julien > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Von: Georg Gast <ge...@schorsch-tech.de> >An: Debian Bug Tracking System <sub...@bugs.debian.org> >Gesendet: Thu Aug 07 19:36:03 MESZ 2014 >Betreff: mesa: possible patent issue: ARB_texture_float: US Patent >#6,650,327 > >Package: libgl1-mesa-dri >Version: 10.2.4-1 >Severity: normal >File: mesa > >Dear Maintainer, > >a short story how i became aware of this issue: I tried to enable >opengl 3.3 >on my gentoo box and i installed mesa 10.2.4 and mesa-utils 8.2 but >could not >get opengl 3.3 running. So i installed debian/jessie on a seperate >partiton to >verify that my machine is able to do this. I tried with the same >current mesa (10.2.4), >mesa-progs 8.2 and the same kernel 3.14.13 as debian did use. glxinfo >did immediatly report on >debian/jessie that opengl 3.3 is available. As far as good. I thought >it >is just a configuration issue. > >Now i copied the debian kernel to my gentoo partition and it did still >report opengl 2.1. I tried the useflag USE="-bindist" to mesa-10.2.4 >and the >machine did report opengl 3.3 available. The build did warn abount the >patent issue. >I investigated the ebuild and i did notice the following: > > econf \ > --enable-dri \ > --enable-glx \ > --enable-shared-glapi \ >--->>> $(use_enable !bindist texture-float) \ > $(use_enable debug) \ > > # warn about patent encumbered texture-float > if use !bindist; then >elog "USE=\"bindist\" was not set. Potentially patent encumbered code >was" > elog "enabled. Please see patents.txt for an explanation." > fi > >So all i did was enable the configuration option "texture-float" to get >opengl 3.3 running on my hardware (AMD HD5770 card / Evergreen chip). > >The docs/patent.txt in the mesa source code archive tells the >following: >-------------------- >ARB_texture_float: > > Silicon Graphics, Inc. owns US Patent #6,650,327, issued November 18, > 2003 [1]. > > SGI believes this patent contains necessary IP for graphics systems > implementing floating point rasterization and floating point > framebuffer capabilities described in ARB_texture_float extension, and > will discuss licensing on RAND terms, on an individual basis with > companies wishing to use this IP in the context of conformant OpenGL > implementations [2]. > > The source code to implement ARB_texture_float extension is included > and can be toggled on at compile time, for those who purchased a > license from SGI, or are in a country where the patent does not apply, > etc. > >The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express > or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of > merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. > In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any > claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, > tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the > software or the use or other dealings in the software. > > You should contact a lawyer or SGI's legal department if you want to > enable this extension. > > >[1] http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=mIIOAAAAEBAJ&dq=6650327 >[2] http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs/ARB/texture_float.txt >------------------------- > >So, i am uncertain if this possible patent issue is a danger to debian. >I would >be happy if this can be ignored. On gentoo i am safe, because all i do >is to use >it myself on my machine and dont distribute it. The big threat seems to >be the >distribution of this thing as a binary program (as far as i understand >it). Debian >does this via the apt mirrors .... > >Best Regards > >Georg Gast > >-- System Information: >Debian Release: jessie/sid > APT prefers testing > APT policy: (500, 'testing') >Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) > >Kernel: Linux 3.14-2-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores) >Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=locale: Cannot >set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory >locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or >directory >locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory >ANSI_X3.4-1968) >Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash > >Versions of packages libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 depends on: >ii libc6 2.19-7 >ii libdrm-intel1 2.4.54-1 >ii libdrm-nouveau2 2.4.54-1 >ii libdrm-radeon1 2.4.54-1 >ii libdrm2 2.4.54-1 >ii libelf1 0.159-3 >ii libexpat1 2.1.0-6 >ii libffi6 3.1-2 >ii libgcc1 1:4.9.1-1 >ii libllvm3.4 1:3.4.2-6 >ii libstdc++6 4.9.1-1 >ii libtinfo5 5.9+20140712-2 >ii multiarch-support 2.19-7 > >Versions of packages libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 recommends: >ii libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0 [libtxc-dxtn0] 0~git20131104-1.1 > >Versions of packages libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 suggests: >pn libglide3 <none> > >-- debconf information excluded
