[Cairo] Possible license change: MIT -> LGPL

[erw01r at ecs.soton.ac.uk]

Carl,

I suppose moving Cairo from an MIT licence to LGPL is an option, given that
commercial code can still be developed using it, however, would it not be wiser
to keep it is with respect to the other projects at freedesktop.org? 

If Cairo is to become more integrated with the new extensions being developed
for X, it would seem more sensible to keep the licence as it is. Moving code
from one licence to another also adds to the amount of housework to be done to
manage the code. It would be a pain if something is missed out in the move.

Altough the code I write is jointly copyright of the university I am at, I am
allowed to use an BSD style licence because it allows for future commercial
development. Since your employer holds a similar copyright, an MIT licence *may*
be more suitable. The LGPL does have the added bonus of protecting the library
from vanishing from the Public Domain, whether that's a problem here, I don't know.

I'm not against a move if it is warranted, but if the licence scheme isn't
broken, there's not much point in fixing it. Maybe an overall policy can be made
on the future of licencing for all libraries that are to be used in this area?

Cheers,

Rowland Watkins