ITP: opencascade -- Open CASCADE Technology is a suite for 3D surface and solid modeling

[kkremitzki@gmail.com]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist

* Package name    : opencascade
  Version         : 7.2.0
  Upstream Author : Open CASCADE S.A.S.
* URL             : https://www.opencascade.com/
* License         : LGPL with exception
  Programming Lang: C++
  Description     : Open CASCADE Technology is a suite for 3D surface
and solid modeling

Open CASCADE Technology is a suite for 3D surface and solid modeling,
visualization, data exchange and rapid application development.  It is
an
excellent platform for development of numerical simulation software
including
CAD/CAM/CAE, AEC and GIS, as well as PDM applications.

The `opencascade` package was previously included in Debian and last
seen in 2011
according to http://snapshot.debian.org/package/opencascade/6.5.0.dfsg-
2/. It was
removed due to its "OCCT License" which was deemed incompatible.
However, this license
was changed in 2013 for versions 6.7.0+ to LGPL with an additional
exception, available
at https://www.opencascade.com/content/licensing.

A community fork, OCE, was introduced, but development has stalled on
the fork while
development on OCCT has accelerated, and so the FreeCAD project which I
am a part of
has decided to move back to OCCT. Additionally, newer versions of the
`netgen` package
depend on OCCT, and FreeCAD in turn depends on Netgen, so getting OCCT
back in to Debian
would benefit the FreeCAD project significantly.