October 11, 1998

I have had a request to change the licensing on "drawmap" so that it is subject
to the GNU Library General Public License rather than the plain old GNU General
Public License.  This would allow it to be incorporated into packages that, for
whatever reason, can't be distributed in source-code form.

However, after examining the situation in depth, I have decided not to do this.
My primary reason is that I have incorporated large portions of the "gzip"
package into drawmap, in order to allow compressed files to be read efficiently.
The "gzip" package is licensed under the GNU General Public License, and it
isn't within my legal power to change the licensing of that code.  The only
obvious way to change the licensing on "drawmap" would be to split it into two
separately-distributed chunks:  one containing the modified "gzip" code, and the
other containing the remainder of "drawmap".  While this would be possible, it
doesn't seem worthwhile, since the only portion of "drawmap" that has much
utility as a stand-alone library is the "gzip" portion itself.

If you have an interest in using other portions of "drawmap" under the terms of
the GNU Library General Public License, then I suggest you contact me at the
contact address in the README file.  I don't object to such use, as long as you
understand that the "gzip" code is not mine to control.

Fred M. Erickson