> Ok, my fault... it was removed from Megapov for legal reason, and I did 
> not know that the povteam was now outlaw enough to keep the gif code in.


	I don't think that being able to _READ_ a GIF file makes POV-RAY
outlaw. As far as remember the license problem comes when the software
has to _WRITE_ in GIF format, because it must compress the file with
the patented LZW compression.

	However I'm maybe wrong. I just decided not to use GIF any longer
for quite some time now (since PNG is far better anyway) so I've simply
forgot what's the actual problem  ;op  [the one regret is animated gifs
that could still be useful]

Post a reply to this message

> So again, where (if it is different than already listed
> http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/) ?


	If you look at this libmpeg2 project, you'll see that most
free/GPL/open-source players use it. Guess that's there some (good)
reasons why they do so; there are actually listed on the page.

Post a reply to this message

Thorsten Froehlich wrote:

> "Le Forgeron" <jgr### [at] freefr> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:3D5### [at] freefr...
> 
>>Nowhere, but I did not say that I like that fact.
>>It would be better to take profit of the portability and have a bmp
>>reader (Win sys) on Unix and Mac port, and reverse of course (thus being
>>able to use the same scene files whatever the system).
>>
> 
> How did you conclude the Mac version will not read BMP images?  Or tons of
> other formats for that matter...?
>


I do not know the Mac version (Just that it exists),
But it's a shame that there no code for BMP for Unix version.
Maybe I overly exagerated the generalisation of "sys" for image, but I 
really found the concept of "sys" a bad idea for enhancement.

It would be better to provide a fully portable code, and label it with a correct tag.

"sys" is a quickpath for a new port on a system, but it leads to chaos...

Post a reply to this message

Nicolas Calimet <pov### [at] freefr> wrote in news:3D5### [at] freefr:

>> Ok, my fault... it was removed from Megapov for legal reason, and I did 
>> not know that the povteam was now outlaw enough to keep the gif code in.
> 
> 
>      I don't think that being able to _READ_ a GIF file makes POV-RAY
> outlaw. As far as remember the license problem comes when the software
> has to _WRITE_ in GIF format, because it must compress the file with
> the patented LZW compression.

It seems it is an old debate, since the license is a bit fuzzy, and Unisys 
is doing nothing to clear the point.
Some people (inlcuding Unisys?) think that the licence covers both reading 
and writing. Other people argue that only writing is patented.
So some people dropped completely the Gif format, just to be sure, while 
others still read it. And some just ignore the patent and write in Gif 
format :-)

I remember having seen a page explaining the author made a shareware able to 
write Gif files. He asked Unisys a licence. But since he wanted to ask only 
a small amount of money for his software, hence generating too few revenues 
to Unisys, they told him they were not interested in giving him a licence: 
too much work to what it's worth... And they suggested that if he releases 
his software anyway, they *may* even *not* sue him :-) Again, sueing is 
costly, and not worthy against a small company/individual. But it remains 
risky :-(
Note that I have heard that this patent will expire next year, for what it 
is worth.

>      However I'm maybe wrong. I just decided not to use GIF any longer
> for quite some time now (since PNG is far better anyway) so I've simply
> forgot what's the actual problem  ;op  [the one regret is animated gifs
> that could still be useful]

I agree for the PNG format, I favor it for most of my images now. Old IE 
browsers (and probably Netscape too) handled it badly or not at all. Eg. in 
IE5, a link pointing directly to a PNG image made it to save it as binary 
file instead of displaying it, while it could display PNG images in Web 
pages...

The MNG format may be a solution for animated images, but it comes so late 
most browsers (all?) don't display it. Maybe in the far future?
Otherwise, there is Flash, but it is not obvious to encode with free tools.

-- 
--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--
Philippe Lhoste (Paris -- France)
Professional programmer and amateur artist
http://jove.prohosting.com/~philho/

Post a reply to this message

Nicolas Calimet wrote:
>> So again, where (if it is different than already listed
>> http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net/) ?
>
>
> If you look at this libmpeg2 project, you'll see that most
>free/GPL/open-source players use it. Guess that's there some (good)
>reasons why they do so; there are actually listed on the page.
Other than being GPL...
Actually, that isn't that bad.  IIRC POV-Ray could be considered free
software under the GPL, as free software is explained in
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

=RAY=

Post a reply to this message

In article <web.3d5e790b2f91788264908380@news.povray.org>,
 "=RAY=" <ray### [at] yahoocom> wrote:

> Actually, that isn't that bad.  IIRC POV-Ray could be considered free
> software under the GPL, as free software is explained in
> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

No, it isn't. Go read re-read povlegal, specifically the section titled 
"WHY ISN'T POV-RAY OPEN SOURCE?".
http://www.povray.org/povlegal.html

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

Post a reply to this message

Christopher James Huff wrote:
>In article <web.3d5e790b2f91788264908380[at]news.povray.org>,
> "=RAY=" <ray### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
>
>> Actually, that isn't that bad.  IIRC POV-Ray could be considered free
>> software under the GPL, as free software is explained in
>> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>
>No, it isn't. Go read re-read povlegal, specifically the section titled
>"WHY ISN'T POV-RAY OPEN SOURCE?".
>http://www.povray.org/povlegal.html
Read the page again.
It says nothing about derivative works in the definiton of free software.

Post a reply to this message

=RAY= <ray### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
>>> IIRC POV-Ray could be considered free
>>> software under the GPL

> Read the page again.
> It says nothing about derivative works in the definiton of free software.

  The GPL licence does not prohibit making a *commercial* derivative work
using the GPL'd software and selling it for profit, as long as the source
code is included and the whole derivative work is licenced under GPL as
well.
  This contradicts the usage licence of POV-Ray, which expressly prohibites
using POV-Ray for commercial derivative works.

-- 
#macro N(D)#if(D>99)cylinder{M()#local D=div(D,104);M().5,2pigment{rgb M()}}
N(D)#end#end#macro M()<mod(D,13)-6mod(div(D,13)8)-3,10>#end blob{
N(11117333955)N(4254934330)N(3900569407)N(7382340)N(3358)N(970)}//  - Warp -

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:
>=RAY= <ray### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
>>>> IIRC POV-Ray could be considered free
>>>> software under the GPL
>
>> Read the page again.
>> It says nothing about derivative works in the definiton of free software.

I'm sorry my original text wasn't clear.  I meant that POV-Ray qualifies as
free software.  IIRC the two licenses are compatable (not totally sure).

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean

Post a reply to this message

In article <web.3d5f25142f91788264908380@news.povray.org>,
 "=RAY=" <ray### [at] yahoocom> wrote:

> I'm sorry my original text wasn't clear.  I meant that POV-Ray qualifies as
> free software.  IIRC the two licenses are compatable (not totally sure).
> 
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean

"It means that the other license and the GNU GPL are compatible; you can 
combine code released under the other license with code released under 
the GNU GPL in one larger program.

The GPL permits such a combination provided it is released under the GNU 
GPL. The other license is compatible with the GPL if it permits this 
too."

The POV license says it is incompatible with the GPL. The POV license 
does not allow redistribution under the GPL. You may not use GPL code in 
POV-Ray, you may not use POV-Ray code in anything but a fully-functional 
version of POV-Ray distributed in a way allowed by the license. Again, 
just read the POV license!

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

Post a reply to this message