SIFT functionality is stripped out from VLFeat

[Andrea Lazzarotto (Lazza)]

The vlfeat package provided by Ubuntu (and also Debian) has been stripped down by intentionally removing the SIFT implementation. This is what is written in the README.source file:

«The SIFT implementation was removed from the source due to patent issues.
References to it have been removed from the toplevel demo script (vl_demo.m) and
the toplevel documentation file (index.html)

 -- Dima Kogan <email address hidden>, Thu, 7 Nov 2013 17:30:40 -0800»

It is unclear whether these "patent issues" exist or not, at least because software patents are not even legal in a lot of countries. Moreover, there is no documentation whatsoever on how to add the missing functionality. I ended up downloading the source file and building custom deb packages, but this should not be needed by the average user.

I am using Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty and the package without SIFT is octave-vlfeat 0.9.17+dfsg0-6build1. If these "issues" happen to be real, with good evidence, then im my opinion a script should be added to download the missing parts, like Ubuntu does with the deCSS library for encrypted DVDs.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: octave-vlfeat 0.9.17+dfsg0-6build1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sat Apr 26 20:11:16 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-07-17 (648 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
SourcePackage: vlfeat
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-03-24 (33 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[dima (9-ubuntu-4)]

The patent has expired. I just uploaded a vlfeat-with-SIFT into Debian, and Ubuntu will pick it up when they roll their next release