non-free algorithms (e.g. SIFT) excluded

[Qichang Liang]

Currently, non-free algorithms such as SIFT are excluded from the opencv_2.4.2+dfsg-0exp2. However, is it possible to include libraries and header under opencv2/non-free (that may be subject to patents in some countries) into packages such as libopencv-nonfree(-dev)? This non-free package can be included in the multiverse repository.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Nobuhiro Iwamatsu (iwamatsu)]

Hi,

Debian package was removed source code of non-free module.
Because there is a patent issue.
If you're distributing in Ubuntu, I think should you contact the Canonical is good first.

[Matthieu Tourne (matthieu-tourne)]

Here is the full discussion on debian mailing list :

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=734373

nonfree (SIFT and SURF) where indeed removed upstream by Debian because of the patents.

To my knowledge there haven't been any patent disputes over these algorithms.

Also if using SIFT in your software becomes a problem, there are other invariant features detectors / descriptors one can use.

For now Sift is a good implementation that does the job, and it would be great to have.