Relationship of dxfwrite, dxfgrabber and ezdxf

dxfwrite

dxfwrite is my first DXF related Python package, I started the project in 2010:

• dxfwrite just writes DXF R12 compatible DXF files
• has no dependencies
• can't read DXF files
• dxfwrite is in maintenance only mode, no further development, just bugfxes.
• smaller memory footprint than ezdxf
• dxfwrite has a different API than ezdxf

dxfgrabber

While dxfwrite works fine, I wanted a more versatile package, that can read and write DXF files and maybe also supports newer DXF formats than DXF R12. This was the start of ezdxf in 2011, but the progress was so slow, that I created a spin off in 2012: dxfgrabber, which implements only the reading part of ezdxf, which I needed for my work and I wasn't sure if ezdxf will ever be usable.

• dxfgrabber is a read only package for DXF files.
• supports all DXF versions
• has no dependencies
• can't write DXF files
• dxfgrabber is in maintenance only mode, no further development, just bugfixes.
• smaller memory footprint than ezdxf
• dxfgrabber has a different API than ezdxf

ezdxf

2014 the first usable versions (> 0.4) of ezdxf was released. ezdxf has all the features of dxfwrite and dxfgrabber and much more, but with a different API. So ezdxf is not a drop-in replacement for dxfgrabber or dxfwrite.

• read/write/new support for DXF versions: R12, R2000, R2004, R2007, R2010, R2013 and R2018
• additional read support for DXF versions R13/R14 (upgraded to R2000)
• additional read support for older DXF versions than R12 (upgraded to R12)
• keeps the whole drawing as tags in memory
• preserves third-party DXF content
• under SLOW development, but it's still alive
• requires pyparsing
• additional fast DXF R12 writer, that creates just an ENTITIES section with support for the basic DXF entities

Since ezdxf can do all the things that dxfwrite and dxfgrabber can do, I focused on the development of ezdxf, dxfwrite and dxfgrabber are in maintenance mode only and will not get any new features, just bugfixes.