[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#2269) PNG for gui-stub

["Jason Short via RT" <rt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Reinier Post via RT wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 07, 2002 at 11:42:58AM -0800, Jason Short via RT wrote:
> 
>>This patch updates gui-stub by changing gfx_fileextension to have PNG be 
>>the only graphics extension listed.
>>
>>Although a small change, this is perhaps symbolic of the transition from 
>>XPM to PNG.  If we stick with the paradigm that one format must be 
>>standard, then this function (in the stub files) should have only one 
>>entry.  GUIs may be able to accept other formats (XPM is still used for 
>>backwards-compatability in many places), but is not strictly required.
>>
>>Is this acceptable?  Should XPM be recommended for all GUIs to provide 
>>more backwards-compatability?
> 
> 
> I don't worry about PNG, but I do worry about 8 bit displays (which I
> worked with until very recently).  This is why I would so much like
> to have a scripted (!) conversion from PNG to XPM and back.
> Then we could define the file format as "PNG that has been converted
> to XPM and back with
> ftp://ftp.freeciv.org/pub/freeciv/utils/graphics/png2xpm2png";

That would not allow the use of the alpha channel, or of more than 256 
colors.  Both of these are things that could be used to make much 
prettier tilesets in the future.

I'm sure there will always be 8-bit-compatible PNGs available - and 
providing a conversion script would make this easier.  But to make it 
the standard is not necessary.

jason