Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006 18:40:06 GMT From: "Siebrand Mazeland" <s.mazeland@xs4all.nl> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/31109: [patch] replace gif images w/ png ones due to patent license Message-ID: <200601021840.k02Ie6Z2066228@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/31109; it has been noted by GNATS. From: "Siebrand Mazeland" <s.mazeland@xs4all.nl> To: <bug-followup@FreeBSD.org>, <cyrille.lefevre@laposte.net> Cc: Subject: Re: docs/31109: [patch] replace gif images w/ png ones due to patent license Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006 19:38:38 +0100 The GNU Project has some nice proze on this topic (last updated 2005/10/31). Why no GIFs: "There are no GIFs on the GNU web site because of the patents (Unisys and IBM) covering the LZW compression algorithm which is used in making GIF files. These patents make it impossible to have free software to generate proper GIFs. [...] For more information about the GIF patent problems, see the League for Programming Freedom GIF page[1]. Through that page you can find more information about the problem of software patents in general." When will creating 'real' GIFs probably be safe: "Of the places whose patent databases we were able to search, the latest expiration date seems to be Friday 11 August 2006. Until then, anyone who releases a free program for making GIF files is likely to be sued. We don't know any reason to think that the patent owners would lose these lawsuits." This issue can be closed on Saturday 12 August 2006. How bad has who been before that? Source: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html [1] http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/Gif/Gif.html http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=docs/31109
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