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I don't know if anyone knows how to get in contact with the ratDVD developer, but if he reads this, or if someone can inform him please warn him that he is violating the GPL license.
1: He distributes libdvnav on the Code page. However he does not distribute a copy of the license of libdvdnav (and neither the AUTHORS file). He should either include those, or just sent patches to the libdvdnav developers and link to the official libdvdnav. (This violation is a certainty)
2: His filters clearly use GPL'ed code. Therefore the same files should also be included with the dshow filters he is distributing on those page. I'm not sure about the main application, since i do not run windows, but i'm guessing that the same applies.
3: Now, i'm not sure about this, but it does seem very likely. He is using libdvdnav. That means something in his application/filters is linking against that sourcecode. that means that that entire part of the code that is linked against the GPL'ed code needs to be licensed under the GPL as well. (we are probably talking about xebnavigation.ax here)
This goes for EVERY form of distribution. no matter of later intentions by the developer or if it's a beta version or not. EVERY form of distribution is required to follow the same rules. I wouldn't be surprised if ALL the downloads on the ratdvd website are in violation atm and would need to be pulled from the site and made compliant with the distribution rules of the GPL
Now I think ratDVD is pretty cool actually, though I prefer matroska myself. So i'm not saying that I don't like ratDVD and that it should be gone. I'm just saying that in it's current distribution form, some components are violating the license of some of the code that they are using. Much like the CherryOS vs. PearPC case actually (though they tried to hide the fact)..
Please developers, read the licence of the code you use and follow it.
It really shouldn't be too much trouble to make ratDVD be compliant with the restrictions of the GPL.
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