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List:       gnuplot-info-beta
Subject:    Reword GIF section of README.1st
From:       Timothée Lecomte <timothee.lecomte () ens ! fr>
Date:       2006-07-31 20:13:47
Message-ID: 44CE807D.2080405 () ens ! fr
[Download RAW message or body]

Hi,

The notes about GIF output in README.1st are outdated. Attached is a 
patch as per my understanding, but I would like to see it confirmed 
before committing. Please tell me if it is ok.

As far as the ongoing process towards 4.2 is concerned, we still have to 
update the copyrights years of all files, increment VERSION, and review 
the couple of doc files (README, INSTALL, etc).

Best regards,

Timothée

["readme1st.diff" (text/plain)]

diff -Naur old/README.1ST new/README.1ST
--- old/README.1ST	2006-08-01 00:06:00.000000000 +0200
+++ new/README.1ST	2006-08-01 00:08:17.000000000 +0200
@@ -35,51 +35,25 @@
  IMPORTANT NOTE ON GIF, PNG and JPEG SUPPORT
  ===========================================
 
- Previous versions of gnuplot (through 3.7.1) used the gd library
- from http://www.boutell.com/gd/ to create GIF output. 
- Because of patent concerns (see Note 1 below) GIF support was removed
- from the gd library, and hence current versions of the gd library
- cannot be used to make GIF images.  This means that gnuplot, when
- linked against a current gd library, cannot produce GIF images either.
-
- On the other hand, the gd library now supports PNG and JPEG 
- image generation.  It also supports the use TrueType fonts,
- line widths, and other features that were not possible in the 
- older gnuplot terminal drivers for either GIF or PNG.
-
- When you build gnuplot 4.0 you may choose between two options.
- 
- Option 1:
- If you link against an old version of the Boutell gd library 
- (versions 1.2 - 1.4) then you can enable the GIF terminal driver. 
- In this case you cannot enable either PNG or JPEG support via
- the gd library. You can still selection the old minimalistic
- PNG driver by using ./configure --with-png .
-
- Option 2:
- If you link against gd library version 1.8 or newer then you 
- get PNG and JPEG support.  In this case you cannot enable 
- the generation of true GIF images.  For backwards compatibility 
- with existing scripts, however, you can enable the 
- --with-gif=png option. This will use the old GIF driver, 
- accepting all the old 'set term gif' commands, but will actually 
- produce a PNG image file.  By default gnuplot assumes that if you
- have one of these newer versions of the gd library that it supports
- the use of TrueType fonts via the freetype library.  If you need to
- specify where this library lives, use --with-freetype=PATH.  If your
- local installation of libgd was not built with TrueType font support
- you can fall back to using generic fonts by using --with-freetype=no.
-
- Several open source programs exist that will convert PNG images 
- to GIF images. See Note 2 below.  If you need GIF images but want 
- to use the newer, more feature-full, terminal drivers, then you 
- may produce PNG images and convert them to GIF externally.  
- On platforms that allow pipes in the "set output" command, you can
- generate and convert the images at the same time, as in this example:
-
- 	set terminal png medium
-	set output '| convert png:- image.gif'
-
+ Starting with gnuplot 4.2, the gd library from http://www.boutell.com/gd/
+ is used to generate GIF, PNG and JPEG outputs. No alternative terminals
+ is included.
+
+ Old versions of the Boutell gd library (versions 1.2 to 1.4) produce only
+ GIF outputs. This means you cannot obtain a PNG or a JPEG output from
+ gnuplot 4.2 with these versions. (Note that the old minimalistic but
+ standalone PNG driver driver has now been removed from gnuplot).
+
+ Versions of the the Boutell gd library between 1.6 and 2.0.27 do not
+ support GIF output because of patent concerns (see Note 1 below). This
+ means that with these versions, you cannot generate a GIF output directly
+ from gnuplot. However versions 1.6 and newer support PNG outputs, and 1.7
+ and newer support JPEG outputs. Versions 1.6.2 and newer also support
+ TrueType fonts.
+
+ Newer versions of the Boutell gd library , 2.0.28 and newer, contain the
+ restored GIF functionality. With these versions, gnuplot supports GIF, PNG
+ and JPEG outputs.
 
  Note 1 - UNISYS patent (why no more GIF images)
  -----------------------------------------------
@@ -98,6 +72,12 @@
  conversion, supported on a wide variety of platforms.  For example the 
  command "convert file.png file.gif" will convert a PNG image file to an 
  equivalent GIF image file.
+ On platforms that allow pipes in the "set output" command, you can
+ generate and convert the images at the same time from gnuplot, as in this
+ example:
+
+ 	set terminal png medium
+	set output '| convert png:- image.gif'
 
  Utah Raster Toolkit ( http://www.cs.utah.edu/gdc/projects/urt/ )
  A general image file conversion library and associated file conversion


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