Re: [Freeciv-Dev] xpm, gif, png & map view!

[Nick Lamb <njl98r@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Vasco Alexandre Da Silva Costa wrote:

> It kind of makes you wonder why the GIMP doesn't use Imlib doesn't it?  It
> looks like the GIMP could use it but they go their own way instead, it's
> not hard to figure out why.

GIMP doesn't really have much use for imlib. If I point GIMP at a 23 colour
GIF image the GIMP will load it as a 23 colour indexed image. Imlib will
make it into a 24-bit image. If I point GIMP at a 24+8+8 multi-alpha TIFF
then it will convert all the data into appropriate GIMP drawables. Imlib
would just make another 24-bit image... In fact you'd have to try fairly
hard to find any use at all for imlib in the GIMP.

> === What i would like to see in Imlib is:
> 
> * it being programed using Gdk & GdkRgb: no direct X calls please.

I'd like to see this, but I suspect that imlib needs some very low level
features to get the performance you already despise. Slower isn't better.

> * make Imlib use GIMP plugins to load images.  This way the possibilities
>   are endless.

(1) Overhead is enormous (wanna load 100 GIFs? come back after coffee)
(2) Imlib becomes even larger (to accomodate PDB handling)
(3) Plug-ins do some very weird things (offset paletted alpha images!)
which Imlib can't possibly support without GIMP running.
(4) Why do I need to install GIMP plug-ins to view image files? Huh?

> * move Imlib into Gdk.  I see no need for yet another lib.

Gdk == Low level window system stuff.
Imlib == General image loading & rendering super-library

Move libjpeg into libtiff. I see no need for yet another lib (!)
Move Gdk into Gtk+. I see no need for yet another lib (!?)

> Huh?  Then how come i've seen and used 24-bit XPM's?  XV, libXpm, GIMP 
> and everything else seem to support them so i don't really see your
> problem.

24-bit XPM is a very silly idea. Users would rightly scream if we wasted
disk space this way. Support for 24-bit XPM is there because it is easy,
not because it's the Right Thing To Do (TM). I didn't have any trouble
finding a popular app that refuses to recognise 24-bit XPM either (though
it supports 8-bit XPM fine).

Nick.