README 14 KB

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  1. README for libpng version 1.2.8 - December 3, 2004 (shared library 12.0)
  2. See the note about version numbers near the top of png.h
  3. See INSTALL for instructions on how to install libpng.
  4. Libpng comes in several distribution formats. Get libpng-*.tar.gz
  5. or libpng-*.tar.bz2 if you want UNIX-style line endings in the text
  6. files, or lpng*.zip if you want DOS-style line endings.
  7. Version 0.89 was the first official release of libpng. Don't let the
  8. fact that it's the first release fool you. The libpng library has been in
  9. extensive use and testing since mid-1995. By late 1997 it had
  10. finally gotten to the stage where there hadn't been significant
  11. changes to the API in some time, and people have a bad feeling about
  12. libraries with versions < 1.0. Version 1.0.0 was released in
  13. March 1998.
  14. ****
  15. Note that some of the changes to the png_info structure render this
  16. version of the library binary incompatible with libpng-0.89 or
  17. earlier versions if you are using a shared library. The type of the
  18. "filler" parameter for png_set_filler() has changed from png_byte to
  19. png_uint_32, which will affect shared-library applications that use
  20. this function.
  21. To avoid problems with changes to the internals of png_info_struct,
  22. new APIs have been made available in 0.95 to avoid direct application
  23. access to info_ptr. These functions are the png_set_<chunk> and
  24. png_get_<chunk> functions. These functions should be used when
  25. accessing/storing the info_struct data, rather than manipulating it
  26. directly, to avoid such problems in the future.
  27. It is important to note that the APIs do not make current programs
  28. that access the info struct directly incompatible with the new
  29. library. However, it is strongly suggested that new programs use
  30. the new APIs (as shown in example.c and pngtest.c), and older programs
  31. be converted to the new format, to facilitate upgrades in the future.
  32. ****
  33. Additions since 0.90 include the ability to compile libpng as a
  34. Windows DLL, and new APIs for accessing data in the info struct.
  35. Experimental functions include the ability to set weighting and cost
  36. factors for row filter selection, direct reads of integers from buffers
  37. on big-endian processors that support misaligned data access, faster
  38. methods of doing alpha composition, and more accurate 16->8 bit color
  39. conversion.
  40. The additions since 0.89 include the ability to read from a PNG stream
  41. which has had some (or all) of the signature bytes read by the calling
  42. application. This also allows the reading of embedded PNG streams that
  43. do not have the PNG file signature. As well, it is now possible to set
  44. the library action on the detection of chunk CRC errors. It is possible
  45. to set different actions based on whether the CRC error occurred in a
  46. critical or an ancillary chunk.
  47. The changes made to the library, and bugs fixed are based on discussions
  48. on the PNG-implement mailing list
  49. and not on material submitted privately to Guy, Andreas, or Glenn. They will
  50. forward any good suggestions to the list.
  51. For a detailed description on using libpng, read libpng.txt. For
  52. examples of libpng in a program, see example.c and pngtest.c. For usage
  53. information and restrictions (what little they are) on libpng, see
  54. png.h. For a description on using zlib (the compression library used by
  55. libpng) and zlib's restrictions, see zlib.h
  56. I have included a general makefile, as well as several machine and
  57. compiler specific ones, but you may have to modify one for your own needs.
  58. You should use zlib 1.0.4 or later to run this, but it MAY work with
  59. versions as old as zlib 0.95. Even so, there are bugs in older zlib
  60. versions which can cause the output of invalid compression streams for
  61. some images. You will definitely need zlib 1.0.4 or later if you are
  62. taking advantage of the MS-DOS "far" structure allocation for the small
  63. and medium memory models. You should also note that zlib is a
  64. compression library that is useful for more things than just PNG files.
  65. You can use zlib as a drop-in replacement for fread() and fwrite() if
  66. you are so inclined.
  67. zlib should be available at the same place that libpng is, or at.
  68. ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib
  69. You may also want a copy of the PNG specification. It is available
  70. as an RFC, a W3C Recommendation, and an ISO/IEC Standard. You can find
  71. these at http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/documents/
  72. This code is currently being archived at libpng.sf.net in the
  73. [DOWNLOAD] area, and on CompuServe, Lib 20 (PNG SUPPORT)
  74. at GO GRAPHSUP. If you can't find it in any of those places,
  75. e-mail me, and I'll help you find it.
  76. If you have any code changes, requests, problems, etc., please e-mail
  77. them to me. Also, I'd appreciate any make files or project files,
  78. and any modifications you needed to make to get libpng to compile,
  79. along with a #define variable to tell what compiler/system you are on.
  80. If you needed to add transformations to libpng, or wish libpng would
  81. provide the image in a different way, drop me a note (and code, if
  82. possible), so I can consider supporting the transformation.
  83. Finally, if you get any warning messages when compiling libpng
  84. (note: not zlib), and they are easy to fix, I'd appreciate the
  85. fix. Please mention "libpng" somewhere in the subject line. Thanks.
  86. This release was created and will be supported by myself (of course
  87. based in a large way on Guy's and Andreas' earlier work), and the PNG group.
  88. glennrp at users.sourceforge.net
  89. png-implement at ccrc.wustl.edu (subscription required; write to
  90. majordomo at ccrc.wustl.edu with "subscribe png-implement" in the message).
  91. You can't reach Guy, the original libpng author, at the addresses
  92. given in previous versions of this document. He and Andreas will read mail
  93. addressed to the png-implement list, however.
  94. Please do not send general questions about PNG. Send them to
  95. the (png-list at ccrc.wustl.edu, subscription required, write to
  96. majordomo at ccrc.wustl.edu with "subscribe png-list" in your message).
  97. On the other hand,
  98. please do not send libpng questions to that address, send them to me
  99. or to the png-implement list. I'll
  100. get them in the end anyway. If you have a question about something
  101. in the PNG specification that is related to using libpng, send it
  102. to me. Send me any questions that start with "I was using libpng,
  103. and ...". If in doubt, send questions to me. I'll bounce them
  104. to others, if necessary.
  105. Please do not send suggestions on how to change PNG. We have
  106. been discussing PNG for nine years now, and it is official and
  107. finished. If you have suggestions for libpng, however, I'll
  108. gladly listen. Even if your suggestion is not used immediately,
  109. it may be used later.
  110. Files in this distribution:
  111. ANNOUNCE => Announcement of this version, with recent changes
  112. CHANGES => Description of changes between libpng versions
  113. KNOWNBUG => List of known bugs and deficiencies
  114. LICENSE => License to use and redistribute libpng
  115. README => This file
  116. TODO => Things not implemented in the current library
  117. Y2KINFO => Statement of Y2K compliance
  118. example.c => Example code for using libpng functions
  119. libpng.3 => manual page for libpng (includes libpng.txt)
  120. libpng.txt => Description of libpng and its functions
  121. libpngpf.3 => manual page for libpng's private functions
  122. png.5 => manual page for the PNG format
  123. png.c => Basic interface functions common to library
  124. png.h => Library function and interface declarations
  125. pngconf.h => System specific library configuration
  126. pngasmrd.h => Header file for assembler-coded functions
  127. pngerror.c => Error/warning message I/O functions
  128. pngget.c => Functions for retrieving info from struct
  129. pngmem.c => Memory handling functions
  130. pngbar.png => PNG logo, 88x31
  131. pngnow.png => PNG logo, 98x31
  132. pngpread.c => Progressive reading functions
  133. pngread.c => Read data/helper high-level functions
  134. pngrio.c => Lowest-level data read I/O functions
  135. pngrtran.c => Read data transformation functions
  136. pngrutil.c => Read data utility functions
  137. pngset.c => Functions for storing data into the info_struct
  138. pngtest.c => Library test program
  139. pngtest.png => Library test sample image
  140. pngtrans.c => Common data transformation functions
  141. pngwio.c => Lowest-level write I/O functions
  142. pngwrite.c => High-level write functions
  143. pngwtran.c => Write data transformations
  144. pngwutil.c => Write utility functions
  145. contrib => Contributions
  146. gregbook => source code for PNG reading and writing, from
  147. Greg Roelofs' "PNG: The Definitive Guide",
  148. O'Reilly, 1999
  149. msvctest => Builds and runs pngtest using a MSVC workspace
  150. pngminus => Simple pnm2png and png2pnm programs
  151. pngsuite => Test images
  152. visupng => Contains a MSVC workspace for VisualPng
  153. projects => Contains project files and workspaces for building DLL
  154. beos => Contains a Beos workspace for building libpng
  155. c5builder => Contains a Borland workspace for building libpng
  156. and zlib
  157. visualc6 => Contains a Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) workspace
  158. for building libpng and zlib
  159. netware.txt => Contains instructions for downloading a set of
  160. project files for building libpng and zlib on
  161. Netware.
  162. wince.txt => Contains instructions for downloading a Microsoft
  163. Visual C++ (Windows CD Toolkit) workspace for
  164. building libpng and zlib on WindowsCE
  165. scripts => Directory containing scripts for building libpng:
  166. descrip.mms => VMS makefile for MMS or MMK
  167. makefile.std => Generic UNIX makefile (cc, creates static libpng.a)
  168. makefile.elf => Linux/ELF makefile symbol versioning,
  169. gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8)
  170. makefile.linux => Linux/ELF makefile
  171. (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8)
  172. makefile.gcmmx => Linux/ELF makefile
  173. (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8,
  174. uses assembler code tuned for Intel MMX platform)
  175. makefile.gcc => Generic makefile (gcc, creates static libpng.a)
  176. makefile.knr => Archaic UNIX Makefile that converts files with
  177. ansi2knr (Requires ansi2knr.c from
  178. ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost)
  179. makefile.aix => AIX makefile
  180. makefile.cygwin => Cygwin/gcc makefile
  181. makefile.darwin => Darwin makefile
  182. makefile.dec => DEC Alpha UNIX makefile
  183. makefile.freebsd => FreeBSD makefile
  184. makefile.hpgcc => HPUX makefile using gcc
  185. makefile.hpux => HPUX (10.20 and 11.00) makefile
  186. makefile.hp64 => HPUX (10.20 and 11.00) makefile, 64 bit
  187. makefile.ibmc => IBM C/C++ version 3.x for Win32 and OS/2 (static)
  188. makefile.intel => Intel C/C++ version 4.0 and later
  189. libpng.icc => Project file, IBM VisualAge/C++ 4.0 or later
  190. makefile.netbsd => NetBSD/cc makefile, PNGGCCRD, makes libpng.so.
  191. makefile.ne12bsd => NetBSD/cc makefile, PNGGCCRD, makes libpng12.so
  192. makefile.openbsd => OpenBSD makefile
  193. makefile.sgi => Silicon Graphics IRIX (cc, creates static lib)
  194. makefile.sggcc => Silicon Graphics
  195. (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8)
  196. makefile.sunos => Sun makefile
  197. makefile.solaris => Solaris 2.X makefile
  198. (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8)
  199. makefile.so9 => Solaris 9 makefile
  200. (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.8)
  201. makefile.32sunu => Sun Ultra 32-bit makefile
  202. makefile.64sunu => Sun Ultra 64-bit makefile
  203. makefile.sco => For SCO OSr5 ELF and Unixware 7 with Native cc
  204. makefile.mips => MIPS makefile
  205. makefile.acorn => Acorn makefile
  206. makefile.amiga => Amiga makefile
  207. smakefile.ppc => AMIGA smakefile for SAS C V6.58/7.00 PPC
  208. compiler (Requires SCOPTIONS, copied from
  209. scripts/SCOPTIONS.ppc)
  210. makefile.atari => Atari makefile
  211. makefile.beos => BEOS makefile for X86
  212. makefile.bor => Borland makefile (uses bcc)
  213. makefile.bc32 => 32-bit Borland C++ (all modules compiled in C mode)
  214. makefile.tc3 => Turbo C 3.0 makefile
  215. makefile.dj2 => DJGPP 2 makefile
  216. makefile.msc => Microsoft C makefile
  217. makefile.vcawin32=> makefile for Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 and
  218. later (uses assembler code tuned for Intel MMX
  219. platform)
  220. makefile.vcwin32 => makefile for Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 and
  221. later (does not use assembler code)
  222. makefile.os2 => OS/2 Makefile (gcc and emx, requires pngos2.def)
  223. pngos2.def => OS/2 module definition file used by makefile.os2
  224. makefile.watcom => Watcom 10a+ Makefile, 32-bit flat memory model
  225. makevms.com => VMS build script
  226. SCOPTIONS.ppc => Used with smakefile.ppc
  227. Good luck, and happy coding.
  228. -Glenn Randers-Pehrson (current maintainer)
  229. Internet: glennrp at users.sourceforge.net
  230. -Andreas Eric Dilger (former maintainer, 1996-1997)
  231. Internet: adilger at enel.ucalgary.ca
  232. Web: http://www-mddsp.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/adilger/
  233. -Guy Eric Schalnat (original author and former maintainer, 1995-1996)
  234. (formerly of Group 42, Inc)
  235. Internet: gschal at infinet.com