In the recently published source codes of the multimedia player Winamp, code under GPL and LGPL licenses has been found to be used. In particular, among the Winamp code, there were the file fir_proc.cpp, the BladeMP3 encoder, the in_vorbis plugin, and components of the GNU Bison parser generator, all distributed under the GPL license. Additionally, modified code from the libdiscid 0.6.2 library, which is distributed under the LGPLv2.1 license, was included. Also, binary builds of the open-source libraries libogg and vorbis were found in the Winamp repository, added without specifying a license.
GPL is among the copyleft licenses that require derivative works to be distributed under the same terms. In the case of LGPL, the license additionally allows linking code with projects under incompatible licenses, but does not grant the right to modify and distribute modified code without changing the license of the resulting product.
The source codes of Winamp are distributed under the proprietary WCL (Winamp Collaborative License), which prohibits the creation of forks and distribution of modified versions. Thus, the Winamp project cannot include GPL code and modified LGPL code without changing its own code to a license compatible with GPL. Currently, the modified libdiscid library and the in_vorbis plugin have been removed from the repository, but the files BladeMP3EncDLL.c and fir_proc.cpp still remain. At the same time, older builds of Winamp, dated April 26, 2023, continue to be distributed on the website, which, apparently, still use GPL components.
Interestingly, some enthusiasts have suggested taking advantage of the situation and, due to the viral nature of the GPL license, to ignore the stated proprietary license and consider the code available under the GPL license, following the logic that if a product includes GPL code, then it all must be distributed under GPL.
Notably, these are not the only problems that arose during the publication of the Winamp code — code was mistakenly placed in the repository server for SHOUTcast, which no longer belongs to Llama Group and has been sold to another company, as well as third-party proprietary code and a certificate for generating digital signatures (it is noted that the certificate was expired).
Source: opennet.ru
