Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!helios.ee.lbl.gov!ace.ee.lbl.gov!jef
From: jef@ace.ee.lbl.gov (Jef Poskanzer)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Xloadimage patchlevel 04 now available
Message-ID: <4953@helios.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 25 Feb 90 03:01:09 GMT
References: <1990Feb23.165346.26243@intercon.com>
Sender: usenet@helios.ee.lbl.gov
Reply-To: Jef Poskanzer <jef@well.sf.ca.us>
Organization: Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric, Ada Lovelace Cabal
Lines: 32
X-Local-Date: 24 Feb 90 19:01:09 PST

In the referenced message, amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) wrote:
}                                       xloadimage lets me take a
}directory chock full o' images and display any of them, without making
}me determine in advance what format each one is in, or worry about whether
}it is compressed or not, or whatever.  Software tools are great, but there
}are times when a Swiss Army knife is useful too :-)...

Actually, I was thinking about making a trivial front-end program that
looks at the magic numbers and execs the appropriate XXXtopXm reader,
with a zcat thrown in if necessary.  How does that grab you?  Another
possible design would be for the pXm-reading library routines to fork
off such a magic-number switch when they don't recognize a file
format.  Note that this second suggestion, while a more complete
solution, is dependent on Unix.  I try to avoid putting Unix-specific
stuff into PBMPLUS.

I am a firm believer in the orthogonal tools approach.  When someone
tells me that an all-in-one monolithic program is the only solution, I
begin to suspect that someone (perhaps me) hasn't been creative
enough.  Either that, or they're using MS-DOS or a Mac...

By the way, one objection to PBMPLUS that I have heard before is that
the multitude of executables takes up too much space.  Thanks to some
hacking by Craig Leres, the next version will optionally produce "merged"
binaries - sort of a portable version of shared libraries.  Total size
for the 81 programs on a Sun3 is 460K.
---
Jef

  Jef Poskanzer  jef@well.sf.ca.us  {ucbvax, apple, hplabs}!well!jef
   "If I had known the microphone was on, I would not have taken the
                 Lord's name in vain." -- George Bush