README for libpng 1.2.4 - July 8, 2002 (shared library 12.0)

See the note about version numbers near the top of png.h

See INSTALL for instructions on how to install libpng.

Libpng comes in two distribution formats.  Get libpng-*.tar.gz if you

want UNIX-style line endings in the text files, or lpng*.zip if you want

DOS-style line endings.

Version 0.89 was the first official release of libpng.  Don't let the

fact that it's the first release fool you.  The libpng library has been in

extensive use and testing since mid-1995.  By late 1997 it had

finally gotten to the stage where there hadn't been significant

changes to the API in some time, and people have a bad feeling about

libraries with versions < 1.0.  Version 1.0.0 was released in

March 1998.

****

Note that some of the changes to the png_info structure render this

version of the library binary incompatible with libpng-0.89 or

earlier versions if you are using a shared library.  The type of the

"filler" parameter for png_set_filler() has changed from png_byte to

png_uint_32, which will affect shared-library applications that use

this function.

To avoid problems with changes to the internals of png_info_struct,

new APIs have been made available in 0.95 to avoid direct application

access to info_ptr.  These functions are the png_set_<chunk> and
</chunk>

png_get_<chunk> functions.  These functions should be used when
</chunk>

accessing/storing the info_struct data, rather than manipulating it

directly, to avoid such problems in the future.

It is important to note that the APIs do not make current programs

that access the info struct directly incompatible with the new

library.  However, it is strongly suggested that new programs use

the new APIs (as shown in example.c and pngtest.c), and older programs

be converted to the new format, to facilitate upgrades in the future.

****

Additions since 0.90 include the ability to compile libpng as a

Windows DLL, and new APIs for accessing data in the info struct.

Experimental functions include the ability to set weighting and cost

factors for row filter selection, direct reads of integers from buffers

on big-endian processors that support misaligned data access, faster

methods of doing alpha composition, and more accurate 16->8 bit color

conversion.

The additions since 0.89 include the ability to read from a PNG stream

which has had some (or all) of the signature bytes read by the calling

application.  This also allows the reading of embedded PNG streams that

do not have the PNG file signature.  As well, it is now possible to set

the library action on the detection of chunk CRC errors.  It is possible

to set different actions based on whether the CRC error occurred in a

critical or an ancillary chunk.

The changes made to the library, and bugs fixed are based on discussions

on the PNG implementation mailing list <png-implement@ccrc.wustl.edu>
</png-implement@ccrc.wustl.edu>

and not on material submitted privately to Guy, Andreas, or Glenn.  They will

forward any good suggestions to the list.

For a detailed description on using libpng, read libpng.txt.  For

examples of libpng in a program, see example.c and pngtest.c.  For usage

information and restrictions (what little they are) on libpng, see

png.h.  For a description on using zlib (the compression library used by

libpng) and zlib's restrictions, see zlib.h

I have included a general makefile, as well as several machine and

compiler specific ones, but you may have to modify one for your own needs.

You should use zlib 1.0.4 or later to run this, but it MAY work with

versions as old as zlib 0.95.  Even so, there are bugs in older zlib

versions which can cause the output of invalid compression streams for

some images.  You will definitely need zlib 1.0.4 or later if you are

taking advantage of the MS-DOS "far" structure allocation for the small

and medium memory models.  You should also note that zlib is a

compression library that is useful for more things than just PNG files.

You can use zlib as a drop-in replacement for fread() and fwrite() if

you are so inclined.

zlib should be available at the same place that libpng is.

If not, it should be at ftp.uu.net in /graphics/png

Eventually, it will be at ftp.uu.net in /pub/archiving/zip/zlib

You may also want a copy of the PNG specification.  It is available

as an RFC and a W3C Recommendation.  Failing

these resources you can try ftp.uu.net in the /graphics/png directory.

This code is currently being archived at ftp.uu.net in the

/graphics/png directory, and on CompuServe, Lib 20 (PNG SUPPORT)

at GO GRAPHSUP.  If you can't find it in any of those places,

e-mail me, and I'll help you find it.

If you have any code changes, requests, problems, etc., please e-mail

them to me.  Also, I'd appreciate any make files or project files,

and any modifications you needed to make to get libpng to compile,

along with a #define variable to tell what compiler/system you are on.

If you needed to add transformations to libpng, or wish libpng would

provide the image in a different way, drop me a note (and code, if

possible), so I can consider supporting the transformation.

Finally, if you get any warning messages when compiling libpng

(note: not zlib), and they are easy to fix, I'd appreciate the

fix.  Please mention "libpng" somewhere in the subject line.  Thanks.

This release was created and will be supported by myself (of course

based in a large way on Guy's and Andreas' earlier work), and the PNG group.

randeg@alum.rpi.edu

png-implement@ccrc.wustl.edu

You can't reach Guy, the original libpng author, at the addresses

given in previous versions of this document.  He and Andreas will read mail

addressed to the png-implement list, however.

Please do not send general questions about PNG.  Send them to

the address in the specification (png-group@w3.org).  At the same

time, please do not send libpng questions to that address, send them to me

or to png-implement@ccrc.wustl.edu.  I'll

get them in the end anyway.  If you have a question about something

in the PNG specification that is related to using libpng, send it

to me.  Send me any questions that start with "I was using libpng,

and ...".  If in doubt, send questions to me.  I'll bounce them

to others, if necessary.

Please do not send suggestions on how to change PNG.  We have

been discussing PNG for three years now, and it is official and

finished.  If you have suggestions for libpng, however, I'll

gladly listen.  Even if your suggestion is not used for version

1.0, it may be used later.

Files in this distribution:

      ANNOUNCE      =>  Announcement of this version, with recent changes

      CHANGES       =>  Description of changes between libpng versions

      KNOWNBUG      =>  List of known bugs and deficiencies

      LICENSE       =>  License to use and redistribute libpng

      README        =>  This file

      TODO          =>  Things not implemented in the current library

      Y2KINFO       =>  Statement of Y2K compliance

      example.c     =>  Example code for using libpng functions

      libpng.3      =>  manual page for libpng (includes libpng.txt)

      libpng.txt    =>  Description of libpng and its functions

      libpngpf.3    =>  manual page for libpng's private functions

      png.5         =>  manual page for the PNG format

      png.c         =>  Basic interface functions common to library

      png.h         =>  Library function and interface declarations

      pngconf.h     =>  System specific library configuration

      pngasmrd.h    =>  Header file for assembler-coded functions

      pngerror.c    =>  Error/warning message I/O functions

      pngget.c      =>  Functions for retrieving info from struct

      pngmem.c      =>  Memory handling functions

      pngbar.png    =>  PNG logo, 88x31

      pngnow.png    =>  PNG logo, 98x31

      pngpread.c    =>  Progressive reading functions

      pngread.c     =>  Read data/helper high-level functions

      pngrio.c      =>  Lowest-level data read I/O functions

      pngrtran.c    =>  Read data transformation functions

      pngrutil.c    =>  Read data utility functions

      pngset.c      =>  Functions for storing data into the info_struct

      pngtest.c     =>  Library test program

      pngtest.png   =>  Library test sample image

      pngtrans.c    =>  Common data transformation functions

      pngwio.c      =>  Lowest-level write I/O functions

      pngwrite.c    =>  High-level write functions

      pngwtran.c    =>  Write data transformations

      pngwutil.c    =>  Write utility functions

      contrib       =>  Contributions

       gregbook         =>  source code for PNG reading and writing, from

                            Greg Roelofs' "PNG: The Definitive Guide",

                            O'Reilly, 1999

       msvctest     =>  Builds and runs pngtest using a MSVC workspace

       pngminus     =>  Simple pnm2png and png2pnm programs

       pngsuite     =>  Test images

       visupng      =>  Contains a MSVC workspace for VisualPng

      projects      =>  Contains project files and workspaces for building DLL

       beos             =>  Contains a Beos workspace for building libpng

       borland          =>  Contains a Borland workspace for building libpng

                            and zlib

       msvc             =>  Contains a Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) workspace

                            for building libpng and zlib

       netware.txt      =>  Contains instructions for downloading a set of

                            project files for building libpng and zlib on

                            Netware.

       wince.txt        =>  Contains instructions for downloading a Microsoft

                            Visual C++ (Windows CD Toolkit) workspace for

                            building libpng and zlib on WindowsCE

      scripts       =>  Directory containing scripts for building libpng:

       descrip.mms      =>  VMS makefile for MMS or MMK

       makefile.std     =>  Generic UNIX makefile (cc, creates static libpng.a)

       makefile.linux   =>  Linux/ELF makefile

                            (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.4)

       makefile.gcmmx   =>  Linux/ELF makefile (gcc, creates

                            libpng12.so.0.1.2.4, uses assembler code

                            tuned for Intel MMX platform)

       makefile.gcc     =>  Generic makefile (gcc, creates static libpng.a)

       makefile.knr     =>  Archaic UNIX Makefile that converts files with

                            ansi2knr (Requires ansi2knr.c from

                            ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost)

       makefile.aix     =>  AIX makefile

       makefile.cygwin  =>  Cygwin/gcc makefile

       makefile.darwin  =>  Darwin makefile

       makefile.dec     =>  DEC Alpha UNIX makefile

       makefile.freebsd =>  FreeBSD makefile

       makefile.hpgcc   =>  HPUX makefile using gcc

       makefile.hpux    =>  HPUX (10.20 and 11.00) makefile

       makefile.ibmc    =>  IBM C/C++ version 3.x for Win32 and OS/2 (static)

       makefile.intel   =>  Intel C/C++ version 4.0 and later

       libpng.icc       =>  Project file, IBM VisualAge/C++ 4.0 or later

       makefile.macosx  =>  MACOS X Makefile

       makefile.netbsd  =>  NetBSD/cc makefile, PNGGCCRD, makes libpng.so.

       makefile.ne0bsd =>  NetBSD/cc makefile, PNGGCCRD, makes libpng0.so

       makefile.openbsd =>  OpenBSD makefile

       makefile.sgi     =>  Silicon Graphics IRIX (cc, creates static lib)

       makefile.sggcc   =>  Silicon Graphics (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.4)

       makefile.sunos   =>  Sun makefile

       makefile.solaris =>  Solaris 2.X makefile

                            (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.4)

       makefile.so9     =>  Solaris 9 makefile

                            (gcc, creates libpng12.so.0.1.2.4)

       makefile.32sunu  =>  Sun Ultra 32-bit makefile

       makefile.64sunu  =>  Sun Ultra 64-bit makefile

       makefile.sco     =>  For SCO OSr5  ELF and Unixware 7 with Native cc

       makefile.mips    =>  MIPS makefile

       makefile.acorn   =>  Acorn makefile

       makefile.amiga   =>  Amiga makefile

       smakefile.ppc    =>  AMIGA smakefile for SAS C V6.58/7.00 PPC

                            compiler (Requires SCOPTIONS, copied from

                            scripts/SCOPTIONS.ppc)

       makefile.atari   =>  Atari makefile

       makefile.beos    =>  BEOS makefile for X86

       makefile.bor     =>  Borland makefile (uses bcc)

       makefile.bc32    =>  32-bit Borland C++ (all modules compiled in C mode)

       makefile.bd32    =>  To make a png32bd.dll with Borland C++ 4.5

       makefile.tc3     =>  Turbo C 3.0 makefile

       makefile.dj2     =>  DJGPP 2 makefile

       makefile.msc     =>  Microsoft C makefile

       makefile.vcawin32 => makefile for Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 and

                            later (uses assembler code tuned for Intel MMX

                            platform)

       makefile.vcwin32 =>  makefile for Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 and

                            later (does not use assembler code)

       makefile.os2     =>  OS/2 Makefile (gcc and emx, requires pngos2.def)

       pngos2.def       =>  OS/2 module definition file used by makefile.os2

       makefile.watcom  =>  Watcom 10a+ Makefile, 32-bit flat memory model

       makevms.com      =>  VMS build script

       pngdef.pas       =>  Defines for a png32bd.dll with Borland C++ 4.5

       SCOPTIONS.ppc    =>  Used with smakefile.ppc

      mangle        =>  Directory containing scripts to build libpng12m.so:

       mangle.in        =>  Function-decoration macros added to png.h by the

                            makefiles.

       makefile.linux   =>  Linux/ELF makefile

                            (gcc, creates libpng12m.so.0.1.2.4)

       makefile.gcmmx   =>  Linux/ELF makefile (gcc, creates

                            libpng12.so.0m.1.2.4, uses assembler code

                            tuned for Intel MMX platform)

       makefile.sgi     =>  Silicon Graphics (cc, creates libpng12m.so)

       makefile.sggcc   =>  Silicon Graphics (gcc, creates libpng12m.so)

Good luck, and happy coding.

-Glenn Randers-Pehrson

 Internet: randeg@alum.rpi.edu

-Andreas Eric Dilger

 Internet: adilger@enel.ucalgary.ca

 Web: http://www-mddsp.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/adilger/

-Guy Eric Schalnat

 (formerly of Group 42, Inc)

 Internet: gschal@infinet.com