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Hello all,<BR>
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I am the nut case that started the lx-drawing viewer program. Guy asked me to review the posts made here recently and to comment on any information or points I saw that may need clarification. I have been a member of this list for all of 30 minutes so go easy on me.<BR>
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1) You do need to be a member of the OpenDWG alliance to download the libraries. I saw one line where it was said that the libraries are the same for all platforms - that is not correct. On the members page there are versions for many different platforms. I just checked and the Linux versions are still both posted. The toolkit linux version is in the second column of choices, two down. The viewkit linux version is in the second column of choices, three down. <BR>
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2) Once you become a member of the Alliance you are instantly granted access to the libraries to use (in perpetuity). According to the license this use is for your own personal and internal use. The following discussion was lifted from the OpenDWG formus, but I think it answers many of the questions raised here:<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#a62a2a" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">posted March 08, 2001 03:36 PM </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">I am using the associate's viewkit to write some utilities, dwg2png, dwg2ps, dwg2jpeg. <BR>
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Question 1)<BR>
According to the license I may: <BR>
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* You may incorporate the OpenDWG libraries into programs that are used within your organization, or are distributed for free to the general public (noncommercial use only)<BR>
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What does noncommercial use mean here? Does it say I must<BR>
attempt to prevent people in a profit-making institution<BR>
from using it? Or does it say I must not attempt to make<BR>
money from it?<BR>
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Question 2)<BR>
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Are any common licenses considered compatible with the viewkit: e.g., GPL, LGPL, BSD? <BR>
That is, I am not asking about opendwg code or libraries.<BR>
I want to know if I write a piece of code which is linked<BR>
to the viewkit, may I release my code under the GPL or<BR>
some license which is considered compatible?<BR>
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Question 3)<BR>
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Is addispwk.c copyrighted, licensed, or otherwise controlled. If so, how may modifications of addispwk.c<BR>
be distributed? </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B>Evan Yares </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Administrator <BR>
Member # 3 </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#a62a2a" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">posted March 12, 2001 11:33 AM </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In this case, noncommercial means that you can't sell it. It is a Copyleft type restriction. So, if you develop these applications, we ask you to make them available to us for distribution on the OpenDWG website. (By the way, they sound like great tools.)<BR>
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We are not entirely compatible with GPL or its ilk - but we are close enough. Your applications can be GPL compatible by providing only *your* source code as part of the package, and referring any users who wish to modify your applications back to the OpenDWG web site for the Toolkit or Viewkit. You may thus incorporate the OpenDWG libraries into the executable distribution of the software.<BR>
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We had not previously put any separate license terms on addispwk.c, but I'm amenable to offering it under GPL.<BR>
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Evan Yares<BR>
President/Executive Director, OpenDWG Alliance <BR>
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3) I am not writing the following as an opendwg cheerleader, but this library seems to be the best that we have to work with right now. I read with some interest the discussion about developing a true GPL drawing format. No doubt it is a worth goal, but as a practical matter I don't see it ever happening. I must passed the 2 year anniversary of working on Viewer, and if you really think about it there is not a whole lot to show after 2 years (for a hobby maybe not bad, but wholly unacceptable in a commercial environment).<BR>
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4) The discussion about QCAD and dxf I also found interesting. I know that many of my users are QCAD users that need some utility to convert dwg files they are sent into dxf that QCAD can read. <BR>
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5) The batch conversion routine was written as a command line process because a year or so ago someone asked me to write one that way. He wanted to set it up a cron job to batch convert dwg's into dxf's. My thoughts for viewer are to eventually have a scripting facility available so users can customize it as they want (QT is developing a scripting app as a plug in). In the mean time I can certainly add additional batching abiltiy to the "save as" command. <BR>
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That's my 2 cents worth. Hope this helps a bit with the discussion.<BR>
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Andy<BR>
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