Re: Independent image loaders in gdk-pixbuf

[Jens Finke <jens triq net>]

On 22 Sep 2002, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> Here is a broad outline of the patch attached to bug 77486:
> There are no longer format-specific functions pixbuf_check_xyz inside
> libgdkpixbuf. Instead, libgdkpixbuf contains a single parameterized
> pixbuf_check_format function. The map from match patterns to
> corresponding image loader object is read from a text file,
> gdk-pixbuf.loaders. This is created by an auxiliary program,
> gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders, which queries all installed loaders for the
> necessary information. To enable this, GdkPixbufModule has acquired
> two new functions, get_name() and get_signature().
> As a side-effect of this approach, the GDK_PIXBUF_MODULEDIR
> environment variable is now only read by gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders;
> gdk-pixbuf itself inspects a new environment variable
> GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE, which can be used to override the default
> location of the gdk-pixbuf.loaders file (e.g. for uninstalled
> operation of the pixbuf demos in gtk).
>
> In order to demonstrate the usefulness of independent loaders, the
> patch also includes an svg loader based on librsvg. As mentioned
> above, this can't be included in gdk-pixbuf.

This sounds like a very good idea. Maybe we can also introduce a new
function, which dynamically returns the set of supported mime types. That
way, a program which is based on gdk-pixbuf for image loading, can present
always the full list of supported file types in the gui (e.g. the file
dialog). Even if the user installs new modules later.

Just a thought.

Regards,

   Jens

-- 
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything as
if it were a nail" - A. Maslow           -= http://triq.net/~pearl =-