Disclaimer

Mesa is a 3-D graphics library with an API which is very similar to that of OpenGL.* To the extent that Mesa utilizes the OpenGL command syntax or state machine, it is being used with authorization from Silicon Graphics, Inc.(SGI). However, the author does not possess an OpenGL license from SGI, and makes no claim that Mesa is in any way a compatible replacement for OpenGL or associated with SGI. Those who want a licensed implementation of OpenGL should contact a licensed vendor.

Please do not refer to the library as MesaGL (for legal reasons). It's just Mesa or The Mesa 3-D graphics library.

* OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Incorporated.

License / Copyright Information

The Mesa distribution consists of several components. Different copyrights and licenses apply to different components. For example, GLUT is copyrighted by Mark Kilgard, some demo programs are copyrighted by SGI, some of the Mesa device drivers are copyrighted by their authors. See below for a list of Mesa's main components and the license for each.

The core Mesa library is licensed according to the terms of the MIT license. This allows integration with the XFree86, Xorg and DRI projects.

The default Mesa license is as follows:

Copyright (C) 1999-2007  Brian Paul   All Rights Reserved.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
BRIAN PAUL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Attention, Contributors

When contributing to the Mesa project you must agree to the licensing terms of the component to which you're contributing. The following section lists the primary components of the Mesa distribution and their respective licenses.

Mesa Component Licenses

Component         Location               License
------------------------------------------------------------------
Main Mesa code    src/mesa/              Mesa (MIT)

Device drivers    src/mesa/drivers/*     MIT, generally

Ext headers       include/GL/glext.h     Khronos
                  include/GL/glxext.h

GLUT              src/glut/              Mark Kilgard's copyright

SGI GLU library   src/glu/sgi/           SGI Free B

demo programs     progs/demos/           see source files

X demos           progs/xdemos/          see source files

SGI demos         progs/samples/         SGI license

RedBook demos     progs/redbook/         SGI license

In general, consult the source files for license terms.