Hello developers,
I wanted to understand the license of SDL_ttf once and forever,
and I hope that you, people who use this library and/or understand
all conditions will help me.
I was reading a lot of official stuff and explanations everywhere
during last days, but still I don’t understand what license must I
obey. For example, SDL_ttf overview page says:
This library is a wrapper around the excellent FreeType 1.2 library,
available at: Freetype Homepage.
WARNING: There may be patent issues with using the FreeType library.
Check the FreeType website for up-to-date details.
This library allows you to use TrueType fonts to render text in SDL
applications.
To make the library, first install the FreeType library, then type
’make’ to build the SDL truetype library and ‘make all’ to build
the demo application.
It says that I need to install the FreeType library. But I didn't
even download it, I just took SDL_ttf devel package and used it. Does
it mean that I only need to obey GNU LGPL? I don’t need to go to
FreeType website and read their conditions, do I?–
Best regards,
Flashback
I’m not actually familiar with the SDL_ttf codebase, but to me, it
sounds like FreeType is already installed on your system.
-bill!On Sun, Dec 26, 2004 at 04:37:30PM +0200, Flashback wrote:
It says that I need to install the FreeType library.
It says that I need to install the FreeType library. But I didn't
even download it, I just took SDL_ttf devel package and used it. Does
it mean that I only need to obey GNU LGPL? I don’t need to go to
FreeType website and read their conditions, do I?
You do need to, since it was allready installed, and you’re planning to
do development work which will indirectly use the library. The FT
library is NOT GNU LGPLed. There are two options:
- The FreeType License (BSD-style w/ credit clause)
- GNU GPL (so GPL applications may use the library)
It’s really simple to use google to find their website, and go to it to
find this out.
http://freetype.sourceforge.net/license.html
I wanted to understand the license of SDL_ttf once and forever,
and I hope that you, people who use this library and/or understand
all conditions will help me.
I was reading a lot of official stuff and explanations everywhere
during last days, but still I don’t understand what license must I
obey. For example, SDL_ttf overview page says:
This library is a wrapper around the excellent FreeType 1.2 library,
available at: Freetype Homepage.
WARNING: There may be patent issues with using the FreeType library.
Check the FreeType website for up-to-date details.
This library allows you to use TrueType fonts to render text in SDL
applications.
To make the library, first install the FreeType library, then type
’make’ to build the SDL truetype library and ‘make all’ to build
the demo application.
It says that I need to install the FreeType library. But I didn't
even download it, I just took SDL_ttf devel package and used it. Does
it mean that I only need to obey GNU LGPL? I don’t need to go to
FreeType website and read their conditions, do I?
First, as Bill Kendrick pointed out, FreeType must be already
installed on your system since SDL_tff requires FreeType to work (and
SDL_ttf2 requires FreeType 2).
Since FreeType 1 is affected by patents isues while (the default build
of) FreeType 2 is not, you are safe if you use SDL_ttf2, but you could
have problems if you use SDL_ttf 1.
See http://www.freetype.org/patents.html for more details about the
patent issues in FreeType…
Hope it helps,
-GaetanOn Sun, 26 Dec 2004 16:37:30 +0200, Flashback wrote:
I was chasing my own tail for a while trying to figure out your question for
myself, until I realized that the doc’s for SDL_TTF are out-of-date…
sdl_ttf 2.x uses FreeType 2( NOT 1.2, as stated in the docs), therefore the
legalities are minimal, just make sure you are using TTF fonts for which
you’ve been granted permission, obtained license(s) to use, or are truly
free… (e.g. www.larabiefonts.com )
That’s what I know…
-Dave> ----- Original Message -----
From: flashback@programist.ru (Flashback)
To:
Sent: Sunday, December 26, 2004 8:37 AM
Subject: [SDL] License question: SDL_ttf
Hello developers,
I wanted to understand the license of SDL_ttf once and forever,
and I hope that you, people who use this library and/or understand
all conditions will help me.
I was reading a lot of official stuff and explanations everywhere
during last days, but still I don’t understand what license must I
obey. For example, SDL_ttf overview page says:
This library is a wrapper around the excellent FreeType 1.2 library,
available at: Freetype Homepage.
WARNING: There may be patent issues with using the FreeType library.
Check the FreeType website for up-to-date details.
This library allows you to use TrueType fonts to render text in SDL
applications.
To make the library, first install the FreeType library, then type
’make’ to build the SDL truetype library and ‘make all’ to build
the demo application.
It says that I need to install the FreeType library. But I didn't
even download it, I just took SDL_ttf devel package and used it. Does
it mean that I only need to obey GNU LGPL? I don’t need to go to
FreeType website and read their conditions, do I?
–
Best regards,
Flashback
SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl
Hello all,
Bill Kendrick wrote:
I’m not actually familiar with the SDL_ttf codebase, but to me, it
sounds like FreeType is already installed on your system.
Gaetan de Menten wrote:
First, as Bill Kendrick pointed out, FreeType must be already
installed on your system since SDL_tff requires FreeType to work (and
SDL_ttf2 requires FreeType 2).
So... how could that happen? I'm the only user and the only
administator of my PC, I didn’t download and didn’t install
FreeType library…
You say that SDL_ttf requires FreeType to work, but how exactly
does it use FT library? Maybe all required components of FT are
already present in latest versions of SDL_ttf (v2.0.6 and v2.0.7)
which I use?
Michael B. Edwin Rickert wrote:
You do need to, since it was allready installed, and you’re planning to
do development work which will indirectly use the library. The FT
library is NOT GNU LGPLed. There are two options:
- The FreeType License (BSD-style w/ credit clause)
- GNU GPL (so GPL applications may use the library)
It’s really simple to use google to find their website, and go to it to
find this out.
http://freetype.sourceforge.net/license.html
Yep, I already was there, studied all their patents and
licenses. FreeType2 looks very attractive, it bypasses all Apple
patents:
"5. Is FreeType 2 affected by the patents ?
The answer is no for any recent build of FreeType 2, since it
comes with a "auto-hinting" module that was specifically designed to
completely ignore the TrueType bytecodes."
Gaetan de Menten wrote:
Since FreeType 1 is affected by patents isues while (the default build
of) FreeType 2 is not, you are safe if you use SDL_ttf2, but you could
have problems if you use SDL_ttf 1.
Btw, about “names”. Do you call SDL_ttf v2.x.x as SDL_ttf2?
Just want to clarify…
David Olsen wrote:
I was chasing my own tail for a while trying to figure out your question for
myself, until I realized that the doc’s for SDL_TTF are out-of-date…
sdl_ttf 2.x uses FreeType 2( NOT 1.2, as stated in the docs), therefore the
legalities are minimal, just make sure you are using TTF fonts for which
you’ve been granted permission, obtained license(s) to use, or are truly
free…
Thanks, sounds very good to me.
(e.g. www.larabiefonts.com )
Special thanks for that! :)–
Best regards,
Flashback
Bill Kendrick wrote:
I’m not actually familiar with the SDL_ttf codebase, but to me, it
sounds like FreeType is already installed on your system.
Gaetan de Menten wrote:
First, as Bill Kendrick pointed out, FreeType must be already
installed on your system since SDL_tff requires FreeType to work (and
SDL_ttf2 requires FreeType 2).
So... how could that happen? I'm the only user and the only
administator of my PC, I didn’t download and didn’t install
FreeType library…
You say that SDL_ttf requires FreeType to work, but how exactly
does it use FT library? Maybe all required components of FT are
already present in latest versions of SDL_ttf (v2.0.6 and v2.0.7)
which I use?
You could look at the code but from what I remember, SDL_ttf uses FT
to render all glyphs. So basically, unless it has completely changed
since I last looked (about a month ago), you can’t have a working
SDL_ttf without a working FreeType library somewhere on your system.
What OS do you use?
Gaetan de Menten wrote:
Since FreeType 1 is affected by patents isues while (the default build
of) FreeType 2 is not, you are safe if you use SDL_ttf2, but you could
have problems if you use SDL_ttf 1.
Btw, about “names”. Do you call SDL_ttf v2.x.x as SDL_ttf2?
Just want to clarify…
Yes, sorry for the confusion. I should have referred to them by their
proper version number… I called them like this because of the names
of their respective modules on SDL’s CVS…
-Gaetan.
Hello Gaetan de Menten, hello all.
Gaetan de Menten wrote:
You could look at the code but from what I remember, SDL_ttf uses FT
to render all glyphs. So basically, unless it has completely changed
since I last looked (about a month ago), you can’t have a working
SDL_ttf without a working FreeType library somewhere on your system.
What OS do you use?
WinXP Pro, Win98. SDL_ttf works on both of them without
installed FreeType library. Mystery, eh? 
Btw, do you know what files exactly are installed by FreeType
installer? I can try to search them somewhere in Win system
folders.
Yes, sorry for the confusion. I should have referred to them by their
proper version number… I called them like this because of the names
of their respective modules on SDL’s CVS…
I see. It’s good that now I know the second name, this will help
to avoid misunderstandings in future :)–
Best regards,
Flashback