[Gs-devel] Re: GNU/ESP Ghostscript

[rillian]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Michael Sweet
> Subject: Re: GNU/ESP Ghostscript
>
> rillian wrote:
>> ...
>> software side, and would like to do a better job in the future.  In
>> general, we'd like to move the various gs-related projects closer
>> together, so would like to hear anything you have to contribute on
>> the topic.
>> ...
>
> Well, there are a bunch of things that we'd like to do on the GNU
> Ghostscript front; here's a quick run-down of the list:
>
>     1. Provide a central repository of drivers and patches from
>        the various Linux/BSD distributions.
>     2. Provide a drop-in replacement for the pstoraster filter
>        included with CUPS so that one Ghostscript distribution
>        can support both CUPS and non-CUPS printing.
>     3. Provide a more modern autoconf-based configuration
>        script to make building Ghostscript easier and more
>        reliable.
>     4. Integrate the latest GIMP-print (and other) drivers for
>        photo-quality printing.
>     5. Provide spec, list, etc. files to standardize the
>        packaging of Ghostscript.
>     6. Update to the latest GNU versions as they are released by
>        Aladdin
>     7. Add support for dynamically loadable Ghostscript drivers.
>        The current "compiled everything in" model just doesn't
>        scale, and the OMNI/HP driver architecture isn't suitable
>        for all drivers.
>     8. Add support for ICC-based color management.
>
> We've already covered most of 1-5, and are working on 6-8.
>
> As for bringing the AFPL and GNU branches closer, my main concern
> is possible code pollution; that is, if the code is maintained
> in the same repository, there is the chance that some AFPL code
> will end up in the GPL branch, and visa-versa.  Many of the
> drivers and patches to the GPL branch cannot be applied to the
> AFPL branch because they are GPL'd...
>
> I also think that if we continue developing the GNU Ghostscript
> branch, at some point it will become impossible to merge new
> GNU releases into the branch.  In particular, we have a vision
> of a less-monolithic RIP architecture which will dramatically
> change how Ghostscript operates internally.
>
>> PS hope I everybody; I didn't see a developer mailing list for epsgs.
>
> We'll probably add a newsgroup to the ESP news server
> (news.easysw.com); we're moving away from mailing lists as it is
> getting to be too much admin work, and providing a web interface
> on the various sites to provide access, searching, etc. is pretty
> easy...
>
> --
> ______________________________________________________________________
> Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products                  mike at easysw.com
> Printing Software for UNIX                       http://www.easysw.com
>