Re: Icons of program

[Toshio Kuratomi <badger prtr-13 ucsc edu>]

On Fri, 24 Apr, 1998 at 03:25:47PM +0200, Andreas Kostyrka set free these words:
> > > Toshio Kuratomi <badger@prtr-13.ucsc.edu> writes:
> > > Also -- by defining a very specific icon file format, we are tying
> > > ourselves
> > > to a specific set of features.  Maybe we put everything we think we
> > > could
> > > possibly want into the image file -- but ten years from now (When
> > > everyone is
> > > actually using GNOME :-) we may find that there's something new that
> > > we want
> > > -- Maybe there's a new way to do 3D modeling that's small enough to
> > > make
> > > sensible icons or a new compression algorithm that is just world's
> > > better --
> > > and if our "icons" just contain pointers to the real image, (that is
> > > then
> > > decodable by some general image library like imlib..)  then all we
> > > have to do
> > > is start defining pointers to the new image type.  If we put the image
> > > data
> > > into the icon file along with the rest of the meta-info, we have to
> > > scrap the
> > > icon format and define version-2 (and 3 and 4....)
> You still have to define version-2 of the format so the new pointers are
> recognized. And just HOW do you copy such information (and automatically
> reconcile it) to removable media?
> 
No you don't.  The format is arbitrary key-value pairing of a certain format
(say separated by an = sign with \= being an equal's sign and \\ being a
backslash.)  So let's say your icon is defined by:
icon_normal=/usr/share/icons/html_doc.png

You can change this to be:
icon_normal=/home/badger/icons/new_and_improved.tan

without troubles to your format.  You just have to have a library to decode
the new image -- not a new library to decode the format.

-Toshio
-- 
badger  \"The Difference between today and yesterday is not so much what has
@prtr-13 \ changed between then and now as what I hope to change by tomorrow."
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