[gdal-dev] writing DWG/DXF

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

    I want to convert shape files into DWG or DXF. (And I do not have 
ArcView, nor Windows, available.)

I've been reading the lists and found information on a "spike" branch of 
ogr2ogr which is supposed to be able to write DWG/DXF files. In the 
readme it says

"The ability to write DXF and DWG is only available when OGR is linked 
against the DWGdirect library provided by the Open Design Alliance. 
Note that the DWGdirect library is not open source, though the license 
terms are not terribly draconian."

The GDAL wiki says:

"The DXFDWG driver is currently a write-only driver dependent on the 
Open Design Alliance DWGdirect libraries for writing to the DWG and DXF 
formats. The DWGdirect library is not open source, though it is offered 
under fairly permissive terms."

Now as far as I can see, nothing works without the DWGdirect library, 
and unless you are associated with an educational institution and are 
willing to sign and fax lots of forms to confirm that, the only way to 
get your hands on that library is to become an "Associated Member" of 
the ODA and pay them US$250 (for the first year), and that does not even 
include a license to distribute the library.

Are these the "fairly permissive terms" mentioned above - or have I 
overlooked some easy and free-of-charge way of downloading the library 
(or a statically linked ogr2ogr)?

Cheers
Frederik