2007.07.14 08:00 "[Tiff] [ANNOUNCE]: Libtiff 3.9.0beta released", by Andrey Kiselev

2007.07.16 08:59 "Re: [Tiff] [ANNOUNCE]: Libtiff 3.9.0beta released", by Andy Cave

I hope that this is not the case. If so, I think that's bad, as it's the only code in LibTIFF which is not completely unencumbered from patents, license fees and GPL. When we had LZW in LibTIFF and it was patented, there used to be a 'dummy' file that was compiled in by default and to get real LZW you had to explicitly compile it in. I think this should be the case with JBIG-KIT given that:

  1. it is covered by patents - even though these can be obtained for free.
  2. you have to license it (from Cambridge University).
  3. it is restricted by GPL.

Otherwise, if someone just happens to have JBIG-KIT on their PC and builds LibTIFF they could end up infringing on patents, infringing on copyright licensing and violating GPL. I think that if this happens, it could open up a whole can of worms - for example rather than have to then publish their (commercial) code, a company might end up suing the people who opened up this can of worms.

PS I never said you had to *remove* code - just that you had to remove it (from what I have read - I've not checked (yet)) - either by removing JBUG-KIT (if installed) or using ""--disable-jbig".

Andy.

----- Original Message -----

Cc: "Andrey Kiselev" <dron@ak4719.spb.edu>; <tiff@lists.maptools.org> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 6:39 PM Subject: Re: [Tiff] [ANNOUNCE]: Libtiff 3.9.0beta released

JBIG support is compiled-in only if the JBIG-KIT library is found during configure *and* if "--disable-jbig" is not used. If you're building libtiff and you don't want JBIG support compiled-in then you can either ensure that you don't have JBIG-KIT installed (some Linux distros do have it) or simply ensure that you always use "--disable-jbig". There is no need to *remove* code from libtiff.