[Mesa3d-dev] GLU fun

[Michael V. <bri...@lo...>]

Looking for a little commentary.

Tribes 2 uses two GLU functions: gluProject and gluUnProject. Normally
an app would just link dynamically against libGLU and be done with it,
However, in the world of binary applications and entertainment
oriented end-users, this is a dangerous proposition. Especially with
the proliferation of the NVIDIA drivers, which don't ship a GLU.

My ideas:

1) link dynamically and ship a Mesa GLU in the current directory, with
associated LD_LIBRARY_PATH mojo. Unfortunately, we use a dlopen()
style pointer mechanism, so GL is never explicitly linked. The
run-time linker will probably still work because a libGL *is* loaded,
through dlopen, but it still makes me nervous.

2) Ask permission to include the two functions verbatim into the
Tribes 2 source tree. I did this with gluBuild2DMipMaps with Brian's
blessing for Heavy Gear 2. Obviously the LGPL usually doesn't allow
this w/o object files, etc. Unfortunately, it looks like a Frenchman
of some sort wrote the project/unproject code in Mesa, and I don't
know if Brian has copyright assignment.

3) See if the SGI OSS B license would allow me to do (2) with its
code. Unfortunately IANAL and can't tell exactly what the license lets
me do.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

m.

-- 
Programmer             "Ha ha." "Ha ha." "What are you laughing at?"
Loki Software                      "Just the horror of being alive."
mic...@ya...                         - Tony Millionaire