diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gif.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gif.html | 289 |
1 files changed, 289 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gif.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gif.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55904db --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gif.html @@ -0,0 +1,289 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.86 --> +<title>Why There Are No GIF Files on GNU Web Pages +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/gif.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2>Why There Are No GIF Files on GNU Web Pages</h2> + + +<blockquote><p>There is no special patent threat to GIF format nowadays +as far as we know; <a href="#venuenote">the patents that were used to +attack GIF have expired</a>. Nonetheless, this article will remain +pertinent as long as programs can be forbidden by patents, since the +same sorts of things could happen in any area of computing. See +<a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics"> our web +site policies regarding GIFs</a>, and +our <a href="/server/standards/">web guidelines</a>.</p></blockquote> + + +<p> +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. +They also apply to the <strong>compress</strong> program, which is why +GNU does not use it or its format. +</p> + +<p> +Unisys and IBM both applied for patents in 1983. Unisys (and perhaps +IBM) applied for these patents in a number of countries. Of the +places whose patent databases we were able to search, the latest +expiration date seems to be 1 October 2006. +<sup><a id="returnnote" href="#venuenote">1</a></sup> 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. +</p> + +<p> +If we released such a program, Unisys and IBM might think it wiser +(for public relations reasons) not to sue a charity like the FSF. +They could instead sue the users of the program, including the +companies who redistribute GNU software. We feel it would not be +responsible behavior for us to set up this situation. +</p> + +<p> +Many people think that Unisys has given permission for distributing +free software to make GIF format. Unfortunately that is +not what Unisys has actually done. Here is what Unisys actually said +about the matter in 1995: +</p> + +<blockquote><p>Unisys does not require licensing, or fees to be paid, for +non-commercial, non-profit GIF-based applications, +including those for use on the on-line services. Concerning +developers of software for the Internet network, the same principle +applies. Unisys will not pursue previous inadvertent infringement by +developers producing versions of software products for the Internet +prior to 1995. The company does not require licensing, or fees to be +paid for non-commercial, non-profit offerings on the Internet, +including “Freeware”.</p></blockquote> + +<p> +Unfortunately, this doesn't permit +<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a> which can be used +in a free operating system such as GNU. It also does not +permit <em>at all</em> the use of LZW for other purposes +such as compression of files. This is why we think it is still best +to reject LZW, and switch to alternatives such +as <a href="/software/gzip/gzip.html">GNU Gzip</a> +and PNG. +</p> + +<p> +<a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Commercial redistribution of free +software</a> is very important, and we want the GNU system as a whole +to be redistributed commercially. This means we can't add +a GIF-generating program to GNU, not under the Unisys +terms. +</p> + +<p> +The <a href="http://www.fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</a> is a +non-commercial, non-profit organization, so strictly speaking the +income from our sales of <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/">CD-ROMs</a> +is not “profit”. Perhaps this means we could include +a GIF program on our CD-ROM and claim to be acting within +the scope of the Unisys permission—or perhaps not. But since we +know that other redistributors of GNU would be unable to include it, +doing this would not be very useful. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after Unisys made its announcement, when the net in general +was reassured thinking that Unisys had given permission for +free GIF-generating software, we wrote to the Unisys +legal department asking for clarification of these issues. We did not +receive a response. +</p> + +<p> +Even if Unisys really did give permission for free software to +generate GIFs, we would still have to deal with the IBM +patent. Both the IBM and the Unisys patents cover the same +“invention”—the LZW compression +algorithm. (This could reflect an error on the part of the US Patent +and Trademark Office, which is famous for incompetence and poor +judgment.) +</p> + +<p> +Decoding GIFs is a different issue. The Unisys and IBM +patents are both written in such a way that they do not apply to a +program which can only uncompress LZW format and cannot +compress. Therefore we can and will include support for +displaying GIF files in GNU software. +</p> + +<p> +Given this situation, we could still include GIF files in +our web pages if we wanted to. Many other people would be happy to +generate them for us, and we would not be sued for +having GIF files on our server. +</p> + +<p> +But we feel that if we can't distribute the software to enable people +to generate GIF files properly, then we should not have +other people run such software for us. Besides, if we can't provide +software in GNU to generate GIF files, we have to +recommend an alternative. We ourselves should use the alternative +that we recommend. +</p> + +<p> +In 1999, Unisys had the following to say about the issue of their +patent: +</p> + +<blockquote><p>Unisys has frequently been asked whether a Unisys +license is required in order to use LZW software obtained +by downloading from the Internet or from other sources. The answer is +simple. In all cases, a written license agreement or statement signed +by an authorized Unisys representative is required from Unisys for all +use, sale or distribution of any software (including so-called +“freeware”) and/or hardware providing LZW +conversion capability (for example, downloaded +software).</p></blockquote> + +<p> +With this statement, Unisys is trying to take back what they said in +1995 when they gave parts of the patent to the public. The legality of +such a move is questionable. +</p> + +<p> +A further issue is that the LZW patents—and computational idea +patents in general—are an offense against the freedom of +programmers generally, and all programmers need to work together +to <a href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">protect +software from patents.</a> +</p> + +<p> +So even if we could find a solution to enable the free software +community to generate GIFs, that isn't really a solution, +not for the problem as a whole. The solution is switching to another +format and not using GIF any more. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, we don't use GIF, and we hope you won't use it +either. +</p> + +<p> +It is possible to make non-compressed images that act +like GIFs, in that they work with programs that +decode GIF format. This can be done without infringing +patents. These pseudo-GIFs are useful for some purposes. +</p> + +<p> +It is also possible to create GIFs using a patent-free +run length encoding but this doesn't achieve the compression that one +normally expects in a GIF. +</p> + +<p> +We decided not to use these pseudo-GIFs on our web site +because they are not a satisfactory solution to the community's +problem. They work, but they are very large. What the web needs is a +patent-free compressed format, not large pseudo-GIFs. +</p> + +<p> +The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics">PNG +format</a> is a patent-free compressed format. We hope it will become +widely supported; then we will use it. We do provide PNG versions of +most of the <a href="/graphics/graphics.html">images on this server</a>. +</p> + +<p> +For more information about the GIF patent problems, +see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150329143651/http://progfree.org/Patents/patents.html">the League for +Programming Freedom GIF page</a>. Through that page you +can find more information about the <a +href="http://endsoftpatents.org/">problem of software patents in +general.</a> +</p> + +<p> +There is a library called libungif that reads gif files and writes +uncompressed gifs to circumvent the Unisys patent. +</p> + +<p> +<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171203193534/http://burnallgifs.org/">http://burnallgifs.org</a> is a +web site devoted to discouraging the use of GIF files on +the web. +</p> + +<h3>Footnote:</h3> + +<p><a href="#returnnote" id="venuenote">1.</a> We were able to search +the patent databases of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the European +Union. The Unisys patent expired on 20 June 2003 in the USA, in Europe +it expired on 18 June 2004, in Japan the patent expired on 20 June +2004 and in Canada it expired on 7 July 2004. The U.S. IBM patent +expired 11 August 2006. The Software Freedom Law Center says that +after 1 October 2006, there will be no significant patent claims +interfering with the use of static GIFs.</p> + +<p>Animated GIFs are a different story. We do not know what patents +might cover them. However, we have not heard reports of threats +against use of animated GIFs. Any software can be threatened by +patents, but we have no reason to consider animated GIFs to be in +particular danger — no particular reason to shun them.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a +href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a +href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other +corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a +href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for +information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> +</div> + +<p>Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2018 Free +Software Foundation, Inc.</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2018/12/15 14:02:38 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> +</body> +</html> |