Hi guys, I am forwarding the mails I crossed with people at MBROLA project. I had some problems trying to run MBROLA (http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola.html) in my Powerbook (it needs an "obsolete" libstdc++), so I tried to get in touch with them. After 6 months, I got the following response with an NDA to sign that seriously scared the shit out of me! This is my first contact with the "enterprise" environment... so don't be surprised!
I am sending this out of interest, in case someone managed to run MBROLA nicely on Debian, or in case someone could sign it and do a port, or whatever. It would be really good if perhaps they could see that people would like to use it in the Open Source community. I think the voices that it generates are really nice, compared to festival (well, it might be as well that I am too dumb to make festival sound nice! :) The first email is my original message to them, then it comes what they sent me and finally, my answer to their NDA email. I would also attach the NDA as a PDF (they sent me an rtf) in case someone is interested, but since IANAL, I am a bit scared of doing something wrong (in case the NDA needs an NDA or whatever to be read!) Anyways... any feedback is greatly welcomed! -- J. Javier Maestro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://rigel.homelinux.com ----- Forwarded messages from "J. Javier Maestro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- > > > Dear developers of MBROLA, > > > > > > First of all, I would like to thank you as an open source/free software > > > user. Your work is really valuable and helpful, and nowadays not those > > > many people would release in the public domain such a nice tool as > > > yours. > > > > > > Now, with my problem :-) > > > > > > I run a Debian GNU/Linux distro (unstable) over PowerPC (a PowerBook > > > G4). I downloaded mbr301h.zip from you web, and when I tried to run the > > > binary for ppc, > > > > > > nias:/home/jjmaestro/stuff/Text2Voice/MBROLA/mbr301h# > > > ./mbrola206a-linux-ppc > > > ./mbrola206a-linux-ppc: error while loading shared libraries: > > > libstdc++.so.27: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory > > > > > > OK, I went and checked my /usr/lib: > > > > > > nias:~# ls /usr/lib/libstdc++* -l > > > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 312028 Mar 18 14:26 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so > > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 May 26 06:23 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3 -> libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so > > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 29 23:16 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.3 -> libstdc++.so.3.0.4 > > > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 654256 Apr 23 23:42 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.3.0.4 > > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 May 26 06:20 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 -> libstdc++.so.5.0.4 > > > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 780636 May 19 05:33 > > > /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5.0.4 > > > > > > so, there is no libstdc++.so.27. Right... I tried to link it to > > > libstdc++.so.3.0.4, in case it would work, but this is the outcome... > > > > > > nias:/usr/lib# ln -s libstdc++.so.3.0.4 libstdc++.so.27 > > > nias:/usr/lib# cd /home/jjmaestro/stuff/Text2Voice/MBROLA/mbr301h/ > > > nias:/home/jjmaestro/stuff/Text2Voice/MBROLA/mbr301h# > > > ./mbrola206a-linux-ppc > > > Not enough arguments, try -h for help > > > nias:/home/jjmaestro/stuff/Text2Voice/MBROLA/mbr301h# > > > ./mbrola206a-linux-ppc -h > > > Not enough arguments, try -h for help > > > > > > So, although it "runs", it does not behave the way it is supposed to :-( > > > > > > Any ideas?? How can I get a libstdc++.so.27 (and any other library > > > needed to run MBROLA properly!) compiled for my platform? > > > > > > Your help would be very welcomed!! Thank you very much in advanced, > > > > > > -- > > > J. Javier Maestro > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Oct Fri 17 2003 16:31, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Dear J. Javier Maestro, > > Concerning your mails about Mbrola, first I am sorry for the very late > > reply. > > Due to my physical distance and long country change history I could not > > handle > > Mbrola e-mails so efficiently these months(I do research in Paris now and > > visit > > Mons once every two months). > > > > Would you be interested in trying to compile Mbrola for your system? > > If yes, please sign and send us two copies of agreements attached by > > regular > > posting. When I receive them, I will send you the binaries. > > > > Best regards, > > Baris Bozkurt > > Faculte Polytechnique De Mons, TCTS Lab. > > Avenue Copernic 1, Parc Initialis, > > B-7000 Mons, Belgium > Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 04:14:27 +1000 > From: "J. Javier Maestro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: mbrola compilation > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Dear Baris, > > > I thank you very much for the great offer. Indeed I would be interested > in helping porting MBROLA, but chances are that the NDA agreement would > interfere with any future work that I do. The situation around the world > regarding software patents is shifting, in my opinion, to a very dark > zone (even in Europe!). Being quite young as I am, I frankly think that > signing an NDA could diminish my chances of being able to work in and > for the Community (Hopefully, one day IBM will pay me to do some work on > their Linux department... I wish :) > > > On the other hand, I would like to ask you for a little favour. Knowing > that my particular problem concerns *only* (hopefully) the > libstdc++.so.27 library, and since AFAIK the libstdc++ library is GPL, I > kindly request from you either a compiled version (preferable) or the > source code FOR THAT PARTICULAR VERSION that you used in the compilation > of the binary mbrola206a-linux-ppc distributed in the zip file named > mbr301h.zip. By just copying the file in my /usr/lib/ directory, mbrola > should work just fine. I understand that since you compiled it for PPC, > either you have a running version (in which case I could get the binary > from you) or you cross-compiled it (then, I will have to try out the > source code). > > > I kindly ask you for this favour, since I understand that you have > benefitted from the Community by using the gcc compiler, and I would > really love to be able to run MBROLA on my system, and perhaps, do my > own .deb (I run Debian GNU/Linux) and send it to you, in case you want > to hang it on the web. > > > I am really sorry for not being able to comply with your NDA, and I > offer myself and all the help I could provide to you, to make your > project Open Source under the GPL or under the less restrictive BSD > License. I understand that most surely there was (or there is) some > great motivation when MBROLA was developed to keep it closed-source, > I could not sleep peacefully (so as to speak :) if I were not to at > least, offer you the possibility of joining, in my opinion, the greatest > software industry available in the world. As an example, I am pretty > sure that the Gnome (http://www.gnome.org) Community would be really > interested in a GPL version of MBROLA since they are one of the most > proactive group of programmers in terms of accesibility > (http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gap/) and they, together with the > blind Linux community (http://leb.net/blinux/) could _really_ benefit > from a product of the quality of MBROLA. > > > Again, thank you very much for the effort you put in MBROLA. With your > help, I will hopefully be able to enjoy it as much as the i386 users! :) > > > Best regards, > > -- > J. Javier Maestro > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- End forwarded message -----
