[Digikam-devel] libkdcraw release cycle

[Gilles Caulier]

2010/3/30 Julien Narboux <jnarboux at narboux.fr>:
> Hi,
>
> Did I understand well that raw support in Digikam depends in libkdcraw
> of kde,

yes,

>which includes libraw,

yes

> which includes dcraw ?

no.

Forget dcraw here. libraw include algorithm from dcraw. but's it's not dcraw.

Also, since RawTherapee is in GPL now, new algorithm will be used from
another place.

with 0.9.0 release of libraw, foveon sensor has been removed due
licensing problem. We need to find new implementation RawTherapee is a
good candidate.

>
> This means that if a new camera is supported by dcraw then one need to
> wait for a new release of libraw, a new release of libkdcraw,  a new
> release of kde, and finally a new relase of his favorite distribution ?

Yes. in theory. Why ? beacuse libraw is included to libkdcraw as well.
With Alex Tutubalin (libraw coordinator), we have decided to use this
way until libraw 1.0.0. after that, i will add a way to use an
external version of libraw instead internal one.

But there is another problem here : libkdcraw include also widgets.
And some of this depand of options avaialble in libraw. This is a big
puzzle to solve, checking version and branching implementation
accordingly : more complex code, more bugs, more tests to do.
Including libraw prevent this problem.

So, due the experimental stage of libraw for the moment, and until the
implementation and the API will be stabilized, i think that including
libraw as well is better.

But libkdcraw do not depand of KDE4 core composant. You can compile it
under and old release of KDE4, without any problem. so, to checkout
source code from trunk and compile and install it instead the distro
version is the best way. In KDE4, krita, and a dolphin thumbs plugin
generator use it. Only these both composant will be broken with
biniray compatibility.

Gilles Caulier