commit d9d016da8e3f85f962feb601324090f84c0c7a48
parent ba2c5db4bbdc0da84f81ce745ce7861fb6a3b722
Author: falkTX <falktx@falktx.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2021 13:22:41 +0100
Add notes about VST2 and VST3 licensing
Signed-off-by: falkTX <falktx@falktx.com>
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/LICENSING.md b/LICENSING.md
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ Note that if you are making GPLv2+ licensed plugins this does not apply to you,
Regardless of target format, DPF itself needs to be mentioned in attribution.
See the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for copyright details.
-| Target | License(s) | License restrictions | Attribution |
-|-----------------|----------------------|-----------------------|-------------|
+| Target | License(s) | License restrictions | Additional attribution |
+|-----------------|----------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
| JACK/Standalone | MIT (RtAudio) | Copyright attribution | **RtAudio**: 2001-2019 Gary P. Scavone |
| LADSPA | LGPLv2.1+ | ??? (*) | 2000-2002 Richard W. E. Furse, Paul Barton-Davis, Stefan Westerfeld |
| DSSI | LGPLv2.1+ | ??? (*) | **DSSI**: 2004, 2009 Chris Cannam, Steve Harris and Sean Bolton;<br/> **ALSA**: 1998-2001 Jaroslav Kysela, Abramo Bagnara, Takashi Iwai |
@@ -29,3 +29,19 @@ LADSPA authors mention this on ladspa.org homepage:
So the situation for LADSPA/DSSI plugins is unclear for commercial plugins.
These formats are very limited and not much used anymore anyway, feel free to skip them if this situation is a potential issue for you.
+
+### VST2 special note
+
+By default DPF uses the free reverse-engineered [vestige header](distrho/src/vestige/vestige.h) file.
+This file is GPLv2+ licensed, so that applies to plugins built with it as well.
+You can alternatively build DPF-based VST2 plugins using the official VST2 SDK,
+simply set the `VESTIGE_HEADER` compiler macro to `0` during build.
+You will need to provide your own VST2 SDK files then, as DPF does not ship with them.
+Note there are legal issues surrounding releasing new VST2 plugins using the official SDK, as that is no longer supported by the vendor.
+
+### VST3 special note
+
+Contrary to most plugins, DPF does not use the official VST3 SDK.
+Instead, the API definitions are provided by the [travesty](distrho/src/travesty/) sub-project, licensed in the same way as DPF.
+This allows us to freely build plugins without being encumbered by restrictive licensing deals.
+It makes the internal implementation much harder for DPF, but this is not an issue for external developers.
