intended to replace lots of redundant implementations in command-line
utilities and programs with GUIs.
+
FEATURES
--------
libexif supports parsing, editing and saving of EXIF data. In addition, it
-has gettext support. All EXIF tags described in EXIF standard 2.1
-are supported.
+has gettext support. All EXIF tags described in EXIF standard 2.1 (and most
+from 2.2) are supported. Many maker notes from Canon, Casio, Epson,
+Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sanyo cameras are also supported.
+
REQUIREMENTS
------------
libexif is written in plain C and does not require any additional library.
+GNU gettext will be used for language translation, if available.
+
LIMITATIONS
-----------
-If you are looking for a library to read/write MakerNotes, get libmnote.
-libexif is about tags.
+libexif can only handle some maker notes, and even those not very well. More
+work needs to be done. Note that libmnote has been merged with libexif - it
+is no longer needed.
+
+
+USAGE
+-----
+
+We have documented the libexif API using doxygen and are making
+the results available at https://libexif.github.io/api/
+
+The short test programs in the test directory illustrates how to create
+valid EXIF data from scratch, how to save EXIF data and how to load EXIF
+data from data in memory. There are also a few simple example programs
+available in the contrib/examples/ directory. Don't hesitate to contact
+us at <libexif-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> if you have any questions
+on how to use libexif.
+
+To link to libexif into your own package, we recommend using the
+pkgconfig utility (cf. https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config/ For
+your convenience, libexif both provides libexif-uninstalled.pc and
+installs libexif.pc.
+
FRONTENDS
---------
-Right now, I know of the following frontends to libexif:
+Here are a few frontends to libexif:
- exif: A small command-line utility to show EXIF information in JPEG
- files (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/libexif).
+ files (https://github.com/libexif/libexif).
- gexif: A GTK+ frontend for editing EXIF data
- (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/libexif).
- - gphoto2: A command-line frontend to libgphoto2, a library to access a
+ (https://github.com/libexif/gexif).
+ - gphoto2: A command-line frontend to libgphoto2, a library to access a
wide range of digital cameras (http://www.gphoto.org).
- - gtkam: A GTK+ frontend to libgphoto2 (http://www.topfrose.de).
+ - gtkam: A GTK+ frontend to libgphoto2 (http://www.gphoto.org).
- thirdeye: Digital photos organizer and driver for eComStation
(http://ecomstation.ru/thirdeye).
+ - digikam: digital photo management application for KDE
+ (https://www.digikam.org/)
+
If you would like to migrate your program to use libexif or add EXIF support
to it, don't hesitate to contact the authors.
-BUGS
-----
-libexif includes a 'libjpeg' that is 'educational code to illustrate the
-syntax of JPEG files'. Please ignore it. It is a bug that it is
-distributed, but I think it may be useful for other people.
+LIBRARIES
+---------
+
+The following libraries use or have been inspired by libexif:
+ - libexif-gtk: library of widgets to help display EXIF tags in GTK
+ programs (https://github.com/libexif/libexif-gtk).
+ - pel: PHP-Code (https://github.com/lsolesen/pel/)
+
+
+BUILDING
+--------
+
+It really depends on your environment what to do in order to get libexif
+to build. Building from the source tar ball usually involves the commands:
+
+ ./configure
+ make
+ sudo make install
+
+When building from source out of git, something like the following will be
+necessary:
+
+ gettextize
+ mv po/Makevars.template po/Makevars
+ aclocal -I auto-m4 -I m4m
+ autoheader
+ libtoolize --force
+ automake --add-missing
+ autoconf
+ ./configure
+ make
+
+Or, probably just:
+
+ autoreconf -i
+ ./configure
+ make
+
+Besides the standard arguments, configure takes several specific to libexif:
+
+ --disable-docs To disable producing any documentation
+ --enable-internal-docs Build internal code docs if Doxygen available
+ --enable-ship-binaries To include Windows DLLs in 'make dist'
+
+Certain specialized applications can reduce the size of the libexif
+binary by setting one or both of the following macros in the CPPFLAGS
+environment variable at configure time. Each one removes certain kinds of
+text strings and constants from the binary. Applications which need
+to access specific, known EXIF tags and know in advance the meaning of
+their data have no need of those strings and can save considerable space
+by eliminating them.
+
+ -DNO_VERBOSE_TAG_STRINGS Names and descriptions of EXIF tags, debug messages,
+ mandatory EXIF fields (disabling auto-tag-fixup)
+ -DNO_VERBOSE_TAG_DATA Names of enumerated tag data contents
+
+
+INTERNATIONALIZATION
+--------------------
+
+The libexif translations are made by volunteers working on their own,
+either directly with the libexif project or through one of two translation
+coordination sites, the Translation Project
+<https://translationproject.org/domain/libexif.html> and Launchpad
+<https://translations.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/+source/libexif/+pots/libexif-12>.
+Any updates to language translations coordinated by the Translation Project
+must be made through their web site, but all other languages can be
+updated either through Launchpad (preferred) or by sending updates to
+the libexif developers mailing list directly. As of this writing, the
+following languages must be updated through the Translation Project:
+cs da de es fr it ja nl pl pt sk sv uk vi
+
+If you are interested in translating libexif into a new language, we
+recommend that you join one of the above translation groups and take
+advantage of the systems they have built to help you. A translation
+disclaimer is NOT required for libexif at the Translation Project; by making
+a translation, you agree implicitly to provide it under the same license
+terms as the rest of libexif (LGPL).
+
AUTHORS
-------
libexif has originally been written by Curtis Galloway
<curtisg@users.sourceforge.net>. Because of the original design not
-supporting editing and saving, Lutz Müller <lutz@users.sourceforge.net>
-rewrote libexif from scratch.
+supporting editing and saving, Lutz Mueller <lutz@users.sourceforge.net>
+rewrote libexif from scratch. Since then, many more people have contributed
+to libexif.
+
LINKS
-----
Some links you might want to check out if you are interested in further
information about EXIF.
- - http://drewnoakes.com/code/exif: metadata extraction framework in Java
- - http://www.pima.net: This is where I got the exif standard from. Site is
- down as of 2002/12/31.
- - http://www.jeida.or.jp: Can't remember any more. Site is down as of
- 2002/12/31.
- - http://www.exif.org: information about the EXIF standard.
+ - https://drewnoakes.com/code/exif: metadata extraction framework in Java
+ - https://www.exif.org: information about the EXIF standard.
+ - https://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/index.html: Looks
+ like libexif in Perl. Seems to support a lot of MakerNotes.
projects / platform / upstream / libexif.git / blobdiff