[Openicc] Color management in gimp

[PLinnell]

On Monday 04 April 2005 00:34, Lars Borg wrote:
> Implementing color management as an application
> solution is not the best approach now. Such an
> approach was a necessity 10 years ago, when
> platforms provided no CM support. As a result,
> every color managed application was an island,
> with a unique culture and with few good bridges
> to other islands.
>

Exactly why I started this list. To bring together the relevant and 
interested parties, primarily, but not exclusively Linux and F/OSS 
operating systems. 

What freedesktop.org is all about is a workplace for developers to 
collaborate in ideas, specifications and frameworks in the desktop 
area. Many good things have come from this and do make development 
for F/OSS a more attractive environment for everyone. 


> I encourage you to build a systems architecture
> where color management is inherent and mandatory
> in the platform, and not an optional,
> application-specific feature. Mac OS X has taken
> this approach. Longhorn seems to follow.
>

"Mandatory" is perhaps too strong a term and certainly not recommended 
in a F/OSS environment, but making a usable, easy to implement 
framework is very much the aim. If it is good enough, well designed 
and solves problems, then acceptance will follow. This, I think is a 
very important concept to understand in the F/OSS world.

I think of how fontconfig fixed the mess of font management in 
XFree86/X.org as a good example to follow.

> This means every color path in and out of the
> application should be tagged explicitly or
> implicitly with a color space, and the platform
> should convert as needed from the source or to
> the destination.
>
> In such an architecture, some applications will
> be and can be color-ignorant. The platform can
> provide these applications with a consistent
> color space, such as sRGB, monitor RGB, or some
> other system default. Thus, in such an
> architecture, GIMP need not add CM, unless GIMP
> intends to support more than one color space.
>
> (The Workflow Working Group of) ICC, chaired by
> Ann McCarthy, Lexmark, is currently working on
> defining cross-platform functional requirements
> and use cases for such an architecture. Their
> next meeting is held in London, May 3 or 4 or 5.
> I encourage you to attend. We need you there.
>
> Lars Borg
>
<snipping heavily>

This very encouraging to hear. As an outsider looking at ICC, we would 
welcome participation and input. It is really too bad this is so 
soon. 

When working with open source folks it is important to remember we are 
often not traveling on behalf of a company, but at our own expense. 

I, for one, would like to learn more about those of us with a sincere 
and serious interest can participate. I know from my experience with 
both proprietary and open color management, color management a 
technically demanding subject and the science is still not finished.

Cordially,
Peter Linnell