Software patents and workarounds for them are, once again,
causing headaches for open-source projects and users. This time
around, Fedora users have been vulnerable to a serious flaw in the OpenH264 library for
months—not for want of a fix, but because of the Rube
Goldberg machine methodology of distributing the library to Fedora
users. The software is open source under a two-clause BSD license; the RPMs are built and
signed by Fedora, but the final product is distributed by Cisco, so
the company can pick up the tab for license fees. Unfortunately, a
breakdown in the process of handing RPMs to Cisco for distribution has
left Fedora users vulnerable, and inaction on Fedora's part has left
users unaware that they are at risk.