Cdrkit

Infobox_Software
name = cdrkit

developer = Debian Project
latest_release_version = 1.1.8
latest_release_date = release date and age|2008|05|25
operating_system = Cross-platform
genre = CD/DVD-writing
license = GPL
website = [http://www.cdrkit.org/ www.cdrkit.org]

cdrkit is a collection of computer programs for CD and DVD authoring that work on Unix-like systems.

The creation of cdrkit was initiated by the Debian project, as a fork of cdrtools. cdrkit is released under the GNU General Public License version 2.

Fedora, Gentoo Linux, Mandriva Linux, openSUSE and Ubuntu all include cdrkit.

Joerg Jaspert is cdrkit's leader and release manager.

Components

Major components include:
* "wodim" (an acronym for write optical disk media), which was forked from the "cdrecord" program in cdrtools.
*"icedax" (an acronym for incredible digital audio extractor), which was forked from the "cdda2wav" program in cdrtools.
* "genisoimage" (short for generate ISO image), which was forked from the "mkisofs" program in cdrtools.

Front-ends

Other software can use cdrkit tools in the back-end. cdrkit tools will maintain interface compatibility with cdrtools 2.01.01a08 at least for the near future.cite web
url=http://www.cdrkit.org/
title=cdrkit - portable command-line CD/DVD recorder software
accessdate=2008-09-22|] Numerous programs can therefore use it, including K3b.

The next version of cdrtools will not have interface compatibility with cdrkit.

Fork

License issues in recent cdrtools versions prompted Debian cdrtools maintainers to fork cdrtools into cdrkit.cite web
url=http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/09/msg00002.html
title=cdrkit (fork of cdrtools) uploaded to Debian, please test
accessdate=2007-08-04|] cite web| url=http://lwn.net/Articles/195167/ | title=cdrtools - a tale of two licenses] [cite web
url=http://linuxfr.org/2006/09/04/21285.html
title=cdrkit : Debian forke cdrtools
accessdate=2008-09-22|]

Jörg Schilling, the primary developer of cdrtools, changed cdrtools to use a new build system under the Common Development and Distribution License license. The Debian developers who packaged cdrtools stated publicly that Debian could no longer distribute cdrtools because the GPL forbids packaging GPL code with code under a license that includes incompatible restrictions. Debian developer Don Armstrong suggested dual-licensing as one possible solution. Jörg Schilling argued that there was no license problem, and did not agree to make any changes to cdrtools.cite web| url= http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=377109 | title=Debian Bug report logs - #377109] This was not Schilling's first problematic licensing decision. [cite web| url= http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=265546 | title=Debian Bug report logs - #265546 cite web| url= http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=270060 | title=Debian Bug report logs - #270060] Faced with an impasse, the Debian developers made copies of the last cdrtools source files licensed under the GPL, renamed the tools, and released the result under the GPL as cdrkit.cite web |url= http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/09/msg00002.html |title= cdrkit (fork of cdrtools) uploaded to Debian, please test |first= Joerg |last= Jaspert |work= Debian Development Announcements email list |date= 2006-09-04 |accessdate= 2006-09-24] Jörg Schilling stated on the cdrecord website that the whole licensing issue is a "fairy tale" fabricated by people who "needed an excuse for their behavior", and called the fork an attack on the cdrtools project.cite web| url= http://cdrecord.berlios.de/new/private/linux-dist.html | title=Cdrtools - why do Linux distributions create bad forks?]

References

External links

* [http://www.cdrkit.org/ cdrkit website]
* [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/09/msg00002.html "cdrkit (fork of cdrtools) uploaded to Debian, please test"] (fork announcement)
* [http://cdrecord.berlios.de/new/private/linux-dist.html "Cdrtools - why do Linux distributions create bad forks?"] , essay from Jörg Schilling referring to cdrkit without mentioning its name