Re: [AD] GIF patent / support

[Peter Wang <tjaden@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris wrote:

> Chris wrote:
>
> > "Supporting a more popular format would make Allegro programs too 
> > dependant on that format and go against Allegro's cross-platform and 
> > format-inspecific nature. There are plenty of add-on extensions for 
> > you to pick and choose from to put in your own code."
>
>
> On second thought, this sounds like a cop out too.


Rather, the first sentence doesn't make any sense at all.  I liked 
Grzegorz's versions fine.

> I'd still suggest not saying anything. I would be all up for including 
> PNG support, and can think of a useable way to do it with Windows and 
> Unix with dynamic-loaded libs..  of course there'd be a problem with 
> systems that can't use those.
>
> Basically, I'd just load the .so/DLL manually, import the functions 
> manually, and call them as done in loadpng. The zlib and libpng DLLs 
> could be distibuted with the Allegro distro (for Windows; Unix could 
> just leave it as an optional dependancy.. most would have it anyway) 
> and the DLL/.so would be checked when Allegro inits. If the dynamic 
> libs don't exist when the program inits, PNG support is disabled but 
> Allegro would function normally otherwise. It would be up to the user 
> to require libpng/zlib for their individual programs (either by 
> supplying the DLLs Allegro has, or as a dependancy).


This is too complicated.  I still think it would be nice to have a 
separate addon that bundles a bunch of addons together, like gif, jpeg 
and png support.  Then we can kill two birds with one stone, almost.

Peter