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    IrfanPaint going opensource

    Since, as some may have noted, I'm not having anymore much time to spend working on IrfanPaint, I'm going to make the whole project opensource: in this way, any people with the right abilities will be able to contribute to IrfanPaint, improving it without having me to do all the work. I'm not talking only about programming: even graphic artists, UI designers, ... would be really appreciated.

    Still, before actually releasing the sources, I'd like to find out if anybody there would actually be interested in contributing to IrfanPaint; for the programming work, C++ programming skills are required, along with a good knowledge of Win32 APIs (GDI and User APIs in particular).

    The project isn't very big, but isn't actually small, it's about 18000 lines of code; the main development tool is Visual C++ 2003 (VC7.1), which has an almost complete support for the C++98 standard and is still widely supported by most libraries. The compiler and the tools of VC7.1 are also available free of charge, and I may convert the project to makefile so that people without VC could compile it.

    IrfanPaint has very few dependencies, it uses just the Win32 APIs and some #include-only features of boost (mostly smart pointers), although in the future it may use AGG to perform drawing.

    The stated objectives are to improve existing features (adding antialiasing support and unlinking from the limited GDI APIs) and add new ones (especially a minimum of vectorial capabilities), while keeping the final object size small.

    Another important milestone for me would be to decouple most of the plugin from IrfanView, maybe creating a generic interface that would translate requests from the plugin (current shown area, window to DIB coordinates translations, ...) to the specific window messages used to communicate with IrfanView.
    This would make simpler a port to other applications and plugins: for example, I was asked by another plugin developer if Paint could be used in a window of his plugin: this at the moment is quite difficult, but creating a sharp separation between host-plugin interface and plugin inner working would make such a port quite easy.

    I hadn't decided yet what license it will be released under, but I'm oriented towards LGPL.
    ---
    Addendum
    IrfanPaint project page at Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/irfanpaint/
    IrfanPaint SVN access: http://code.google.com/p/irfanpaint/source/checkout
    License chosen: BSD
    Last edited by MItaly; 09.05.2010, 10:55 PM.
    IrfanPaint developer
    The latest stable IrfanPaint version is the 0.4.13.70.
    IrfanPaint is now open-source (released under BSD license).

    #2
    Thanks for the time you spend for the community.
    I hope there was also some fun ;-)

    Comment


      #3
      There was much fun, and I also learnt quite a bit in making IrfanPaint; it's only that now I don't have much time for it.
      IrfanPaint developer
      The latest stable IrfanPaint version is the 0.4.13.70.
      IrfanPaint is now open-source (released under BSD license).

      Comment


        #4
        Wow. I will hoist a beer in your honor, Matteo.
        Its: Belongs to "It"
        It's: Shortened form of "It is"
        ---------------------
        Lose: Fail to keep
        Loose: Not tight

        ---------------------
        Plurals do not require apostrophes

        Comment


          #5
          Yep, hat off for your great work, Matteo..!
          And a nice choice to go on as open source, instead of just abandoning IrfanPaint.
          I hope you find some collaborators. And I hope you'll stay on this forum.
          0.6180339887
          Rest In Peace, Sam!

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by matera View Post
            Wow. I will hoist a beer in your honor, Matteo.
            Originally posted by Sam_Zen View Post
            Yep, hat off for your great work, Matteo..!
            Thank you.
            And a nice choice to go on as open source, instead of just abandoning IrfanPaint.
            I hope you find some collaborators. And I hope you'll stay on this forum.
            I will surely stay on the forum; you don't have to see this as a farewell IrfanPaint, but just as a "collaborators wanted".
            IrfanPaint developer
            The latest stable IrfanPaint version is the 0.4.13.70.
            IrfanPaint is now open-source (released under BSD license).

            Comment


              #7
              Absolutely! Great work Matteo, extending IrfanView's editing abilities!

              Don't just stay on the Forum, we need you to guide IrfanPaint's new capabilities as well! Best of Luck in finding able Collaborators!
              Download IrfanView Help Manual from:
              IrfanView Website - Here
              Sam_Zen's Website - Here
              Author's Website - Here

              Comment


                #8
                I have been thinking about what you said, MItaly, ever since you posted but cannot decide whether what you propose will prove good or bad for the future of IrfanPaint.
                I was sorry to learn that you cannot devote further time to develop the program yourself having taken it thus far but pleased that you are willing to hand development on to others. I really do hope that you will find someone who can do just that.

                IrfanPaint really is a great addition to IrfanView and I can only echo the praise of the others above for everything you have done to create it. I use it all the time just as it is but can see so many ways in which its functionality and usefulness could be extended. I only wish I had the programming skills to do it myself but my experience does not include C++ and I fear that the learning curve to reach the level needed to continue a project such as this would be very considerable.

                Here's hoping that one way or another IrfanPaint will continue to flourish and thanks again for giving it to us.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Mij View Post
                  I have been thinking about what you said, MItaly, ever since you posted but cannot decide whether what you propose will prove good or bad for the future of IrfanPaint.
                  I was sorry to learn that you cannot devote further time to develop the program yourself having taken it thus far but pleased that you are willing to hand development on to others. I really do hope that you will find someone who can do just that.
                  Hey, hey, wait, I'm not saying I won't develop it anymore. I'm just saying that some help would be needed to make it improve as I'd like it to; I'm still (slowly) working on it, with a little help it may go on faster.

                  By the way, after creating the project page on Google Code last week (link), I've just uploaded the project to the SVN); since it's almost just an upload of my local project, it's quite a mess (and there's also some very ugly code lurking around in the project, especially in IrfanPaint.cpp); still, there are bits of code recently rewritten (for example the DibSection code) that are almost nice to read.

                  If somebody is willing to contribute, please have a look at it and tell me what he would like to do: I'll be glad to explain him/her where to put his/her hands.
                  IrfanPaint developer
                  The latest stable IrfanPaint version is the 0.4.13.70.
                  IrfanPaint is now open-source (released under BSD license).

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I am very pleased to hear that you are still staying with it to some extent, MItaly. Thank you.
                    I took a look at your project code and it certainly does look to me like a long learning curve in C++ for someone to take it on unless they already have considerable experience there.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Mij View Post
                      I am very pleased to hear that you are still staying with it to some extent, MItaly. Thank you.
                      Well, it's been a project from which I learnt a lot, it would be unfair to abandon it.
                      I took a look at your project code and it certainly does look to me like a long learning curve in C++ for someone to take it on unless they already have considerable experience there.
                      C++ is quite a difficult language, and there's old code written quite poorly (do not look in IrfanPaint.cpp; you've been warned ); still, there are also areas coded nicely (see for example DibSection.h/DibSection.cpp) that should be understandable also from a general C++-knowing public.
                      IrfanPaint developer
                      The latest stable IrfanPaint version is the 0.4.13.70.
                      IrfanPaint is now open-source (released under BSD license).

                      Comment

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