Re: About GD Image Data Output Methods

[ww]

Warning: all these deal with creation of images using GD and NOT with converting native GD images.... about which neither of two search engines produced any high-ranked references. But the GD site(s) note the emphasis on GD's native ability to output GIF, JPG, PNG, etc.

Google's first suggestion references a PHP-oriented GD manual which says "When using GD, please make sure of the following things: 1. The file that is used to manipulate images is saved as ANSI format and not UTF-8." What's you input?

Slighly more usefully, maybe, the author's site, http://www.boutell.com/gd/, offers "http://www.boutell.com/gd/" and, perhaps more importantly, the observation:
"If you're compiling stuff, you're doin' it wrong. See the gd FAQ for more information and please stop compiling things from source code if you don't need to."

Template-GD in CPAN also has some interesting and perhaps relevant comments.

If your real goal is production, rather than using GD, several documents cite an executable (for ??OS) called FLY as an alternative.

[karlgoethebier]

"If you're compiling stuff, you're doin' it wrong..."

Holy moly! These guys have a strange kind of humor.

I installed GD on Linux several times some time ago.

The prerequisites are zlib, libjpeg, libpng, freetype2 and libgd, as i remember.

In many cases the debs or rpms provided by SuSE/Novell or Debian didn't work so I needed to compile the libs myself. This never worked without some less or more annoying complications.

OK, Debian comes (or came) with a GD package but with perlbrew this is a different thing.

On the Mac there is no such package management tool like apt or rpm.

I could install Homebrew but i really don't want do do this.

This continues ad nauseam.

For example someone jumped to the conclusion to pack libpng with xz.

The version of tar that comes with OS X doesn't unpack these files. So i need another version of tar (which i must compile) or another unpacker (which i must compile too or buy) - or perhaps i must rely on a "free" binary from some dubious source.

I skip the rest that goes or could go wrong.

In the worst case i end up with a box cluttered with not working stuff that i need to remove by hand.

So i'll continue with RTFM. Some of the links you provided i have already read, some not.

Thank you very much and best regards, Karl

Edit: Minor changes of wording.

P.S.: Or i try what BrowserUK suggested below. Please see ibidem about the background of my question.