X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com X-Cam-AntiVirus: no malware found X-Cam-ScannerInfo: http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/email/scanner/ Message-ID: <1400339148.2235.13.camel@pcjc2lap> Subject: [geda-user] Opencascade license change.. From: Peter Clifton To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Date: Sat, 17 May 2014 16:05:48 +0100 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" X-Mailer: Evolution 3.10.4-0ubuntu1 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com http://www.opencascade.org/getocc/license/ This doesn't have a very prominent position on their site, but: "Since the version 6.7.0 Open CASCADE Technology is available under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 with additional exception. Previous OCCT releases are licensed under Open CASCADE Technology Public License." The news of the 6.7.0 release was dated 2013-12-18, with 6.7.1 released 2014-04-30. This potentially gives us a route to incorporate better 3D object support, including STEP model import in the future. I had at one point planned writing an external (non-GPL / GPL + linking exception) program that used OpenCacsade to handle converting STEP files into a more manageable format for internal digestion. This may still be a sensible route (rather than tying PCB to a huge monster like the OpenCascade kernel), but the license change is a really positive step to make this solution feel more "right". OpenCascade does look like a bit of a beast to program with, but I think writing a direct STEP importer would probably be too massive an undertaking for our current resource level. To do so would certainly exceed my availability and expertise. I have, however, been playing over the last couple of days with the quad-edge spatial data-structure, trying to get my head around it. I'm looking at using this as an intermediate internal stage in the STEP exporter I was playing with a while ago. We "probably" don't need to invoke a CAD kernel to export the sort of geometry we use for PCBs and tracking. Kind regards, -- Peter Clifton Clifton Electronics