COPYING: add one to state the "or later" bit

[libsvgtiny-pixbuf.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 7df72d2ef5334df9ec61e431418b2e46c58714c4..db832277dce48aa7272d9b55afe60ac09f147966 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+libera te tutemet ex inferis
+

 == Overview ==
 
 This package builds a GDK Pixbuf Loader for the SVG format that uses
 == Overview ==
 
 This package builds a GDK Pixbuf Loader for the SVG format that uses


@@ -32,10 +34,10 @@ The blessed solution to this problem is to use librsvg:
 
 That package builds a pixbuf loader that can be plugged into GTK,
 allowing it to import SVG files into a GdkPixbuf, and everything is
 
 That package builds a pixbuf loader that can be plugged into GTK,
 allowing it to import SVG files into a GdkPixbuf, and everything is

-great. Until January 3rd, 2017. On that day, librsvg-2.41.0 became the
-only dependency of GTK that requires Rust, which in turn requires
-LLVM. The rest of GTK (and its dependencies) are written in C or
-C++. This has several downsides:
+great. Or was, until January 3rd, 2017. On that day, librsvg-2.41.0
+became the only dependency of GTK that requires Rust, which in turn
+requires LLVM. The rest of GTK (and its dependencies) are written in C
+or C++. This has several downsides:

 
   * Rust is big and slow to compile
   * LLVM is big and slow to compile
 
   * Rust is big and slow to compile
   * LLVM is big and slow to compile


@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ C++. This has several downsides:
     security vulnerabilities [0].
 
 It's not feasible to keep the old librsvg around forever, because that
     security vulnerabilities [0].
 
 It's not feasible to keep the old librsvg around forever, because that

-will *also* result in security vulnerabilities. Which brings us to...
+will ALSO result in security vulnerabilities. Which brings us to...

 
 == Why ==
 
 
 == Why ==
 


@@ -52,28 +54,41 @@ Because if you have a problem with any of the bullet points above,
 then you need to replace librsvg if you want to keep using GTK. And,
 
   * libsvgtiny is written in portable C
 then you need to replace librsvg if you want to keep using GTK. And,
 
   * libsvgtiny is written in portable C

-  * libsvgtiny is actively maintained
-  * libsvgtiny is already packaged on a few distributions as part of the
-    netsurf browser
+  * libsvgtiny is still maintained; there are no open security
+    issues
+  * libsvgtiny is already packaged on a few distributions as part of
+    the netsurf browser

 
 == Caveats ==
 
 
 == Caveats ==
 

-This is a REPLACEMENT for librsvg, and cannot be used alongside it
-(the filenames and mimetypes clash).
-

 The main downside is that libsvgtiny isn't as robust as librsvg. It
 renders some things wrong, or a bit uglier than its counterpart. These
 are in theory all fixable upstream however, and you will help the
 The main downside is that libsvgtiny isn't as robust as librsvg. It
 renders some things wrong, or a bit uglier than its counterpart. These
 are in theory all fixable upstream however, and you will help the

-netsurf browser by doing so. Regardless, it more or less works.
+netsurf browser by doing so.
+
+One especially relevant shortcoming is that libsvgtiny doesn't handle
+<style> elements within SVG files, and it therefore doesn't encode
+GTK's "symbolic SVGs" correctly. Instead of the bright-green layered
+abomination that GTK is expecting, we just get the original image
+back. This will probably cause problems in corner cases, but it's
+still better than nothing.

 
 == Components ==
 
 This package builds three things:
 
 
 == Components ==
 
 This package builds three things:
 

- 1. The pixbuf loader, libpixbufloader-svg.so. It's a shared library
-    that should be installed in your GDK_PIXBUF_MODULEDIR. Afterwards,
-    you have to run "gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders --update-cache" to tell
-    GTK about it.
+ 1. The pixbuf loader, libpixbufloader-libsvgtiny.so. It's a shared
+    library that should probably be installed in the directory where
+    all your other pixbuf loaders go. This is system-specific, but the
+    command
+
+      pkg-config --variable gdk_pixbuf_moduledir gdk-pixbuf-2.0
+
+    should tell you what it is. Afterwards, you have to run
+    "gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders --update-cache" to tell GTK about it.
+    The man page for gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders mentions some
+    environment variables that can be used for more complicated
+    installations.

 
   2. A GTK thumbnailer entry, libsvgtiny.thumbnailer, that tells GTK
      how to create thumbnails of SVG images. (Spoiler: we just run
 
   2. A GTK thumbnailer entry, libsvgtiny.thumbnailer, that tells GTK
      how to create thumbnails of SVG images. (Spoiler: we just run


@@ -81,9 +96,10 @@ This package builds three things:
 
   3. A test program, svg2png, that converts an SVG to a PNG. It does
      this by loading an SVG into a pixbuf, and then saving that pixbuf
 
   3. A test program, svg2png, that converts an SVG to a PNG. It does
      this by loading an SVG into a pixbuf, and then saving that pixbuf

-     as a PNG. **It uses the pixbuf loaders from the live filesystem**
-     so you have to install libpixbufloader-svg.so and update the
-     loader cache before svg2png will use it.
+     as a PNG. Unless you override GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE, it will use
+     the pixbuf loaders from the system location, so you probably have
+     to install libpixbufloader-libsvgtiny.so and update the loader
+     cache before svg2png will use it.

 
 == References ==
 
 
 == References ==