2021.01.01 23:01 "Re: [Tiff] Enabling and requiring C99 language support", by Bob Friesenhahn

So I would suggest asking the question: Is anyone using libtiff and building it in an environment that does not support C99?

Yes, of course. :-)

Please note that I'm generally trailing edge and very reluctant to bump requirements. I'd be the first to object to a C++17 requirement :-) But I wonder if there are any users that build libtiff in a pre-C99 setup, especially any that would build anything else to use it.

Yes, of course. :-)

I have been using Visual Studio 2008 to build GraphicsMagick (with bundled libtiff) for quite a few years now. I did this because it was expensive software which was donated to me, and because the output was assured to run on almost all Windows systems still in use (even the ones powering digital signage displays at the airport), even if Microsoft did not want them to be running any more. Since it is a "Professional" edition there are few limitations as to what I am allowed to do with it.

It is only a relatively recent occurance that Visual Studio Community Edition has been offered for "free" use, and does not have important components for C language development degraded in some way, or does not need to be assembled from parts by the user to target C language development. Even then, the "free" Visual Studio has certain usage restrictions (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/license-terms/mlt031819/). The "free" Visual Studio changes its characteristics whenever there is another forced update. This package is not likely suitable for commercial software development.

Commercial software developers (many on holiday today) often deal with large complicated code bases for which following the Visual Studio upgrade treadmill is not suitable for their requirements. Instead Visual Studio upgrades are a major part of the project development schedules.

Perhaps after the holidays are over we might hear from commercial users.

Bob

Bob Friesenhahn
bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
Public Key, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/public-key.txt