[cairo] Re: SVG backend patch

[Amaury Jacquot]

Steve Chaplin wrote:
> I don't think using libxml is essential, and it adds an extra dependency to 
> cairo.
> 
>>From skimming through the patch I can see it uses just a small number of xml 
> functions (xmlBufferCat, xmlBufferCreate, xmlNewChild, xmlSetProp, 
> xmlBufferContent, xmlBufferFree, xmlNewDoc, xmlNewNode)
> 
> Why not write you own versions of these functions and remove the dependency?
> The PS/PDF backends seem to manage OK AFAIK without importing a PS/PDF
> parsing library.

You've been infected by the NIH virus...

as everything and it's mother is already dependent on libxml, there is 
no point in bothering with reinventing the wheel for the nth time 
(creating tons of avoidable bugs & non standards compliant behavior in 
the process).
This is similar to the situation in the kernel where there were at least 
5 copies of libgzip each with a different patch level.

bring on the dependance.

Amaury