ImageMagick

[Aaron Sakovich]

Hi,

I'm currently working on a photo gallery package to display my digital photos on my personal webserver. This process currently consists of a .COM file that runs as a CGI on CSWS v2 and it's meeting my early specs quite nicely (most importantly, it's a heck of a lot faster than the comparable PHP code I'd gotten off SourceForge -- SPGM, in case you're curious).

However, I've got several thousand photos to pre-process for this task. I've got to resize each one for the various resolutions my program supports (thumbnails, small, medium, & large sizes for different folks and needs), plus the extraction of the EXIF data from the JPEGS. After a lot of research on the topic, it looks like ImageMagick is just the program I need.

Unfortunately, I have been totally unsuccessful in getting any of the various OpenVMS versions of this program to recognize a JPEG file. I always get a "delegate not found" error with any version of the software -- from v4 to v6 -- even if the package claims that it was "pre-built with JPEG support". The best I can get out of it is the default GIF file support. Blecch.

Is ANYONE out there familiar with ImageMagick on OpenVMS? I am getting extremely frustrated trying to get this program running, have tried looking for past entries on the ImageMagick mail list archive (a bunch of U*X heads), asked on c.o.v., asked on the OpenVMS.org forums, asked the guy who ported v3 of IM, and googled until my eyes bled... But I digress.

I'm hoping someone here inside Hewlital Compaqard who's been using the package for years can point me in the right direction. I used this program for years on my AlphaNT box up until it died a few months ago. VMS is my next hope!

Wistfully,
Aaron

[John Gillings]

Aaron,

Where did you get the kit from? Do you have source code? What format are your JPG files?

[Aaron Sakovich]

Hi John,

Oh, I've gotten the kits from several places -- www.imagemagick.com, OpenVMS v4, v5, or v6 FreeWare CDs. The source code comes in each of those kits.

They all respond the same way: "delegate not found", even the kits that say they explicitly include JPEG support.

I'm hoping that I'm reading something wrong, but when the instructions say "UNZIP, @MAKE, RUN", it can't get much easier. I'm hoping that the instructions have glossed over something that's obvious in a U*X world but not so obvious in VMS. ("Well duh, you've got to load your files into the /lib/ dir after you do your .\configure" = "install the shareable images with a /share /prot options" or some such nonsense).

[John Gillings]

Aaron,

OK, found the source code. There is a note that says "Verify the definitions in delegates.xml to suit your local requirements. Next, type"

I couldn't find "delegates.xml", but there is a "delegates.mgk" which looks like XML mapping file types to Unix commands. There are no entries for JPG or PNG. So, I guess we need to figure out how to "suit your local requirements" (ah, the joys of Open Source... just figure out our arcane and bizzare language and structure and everything "just works" ;-)


Google tells me there's a file called "vms.mgk" in some kind of archive at http://www.mirror.ac.uk/mirror/ftp.x.org/contrib/applications/ImageMagick-4.2.6.tar.gz?list=1

but I can't work out how to get at it.

I also found a completely different format file at

http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/astaff/project/aui/src/third/ImageMagic/delegates/vms.mgk

but this doesn't change the behaviour on my system, and there's no mention of JPG or JPEG. It has some explanation about what the file does, but I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with it.

My download contained "jp2.c" and jpeg.c" which seem to contain JPG support routines. However, the "make" file makes no mention of them. They appear to be present in the utility programs (link /MAP/FULL and check map).

However, I'm a bit suspicious because I found another MAKE file for OpenVMS at

http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/astaff/project/aui/repository/third/ImageMagic/Make.com,v

which has a different LINK statement for magickshr.exe , which includes what appear to be image format support routines (but perhaps it's for an older version?)

As you say, I can display GIF, but all other formats fail. Doesn't anyone actually TEST anything anymore?

[Aaron Sakovich]

Well, it's encouraging to know that I'm not totally losing it. I was pretty sure I knew how to type @make...

I get the impression that the "delegates" file is for add on programs, like gsview, mpeg, and other external exe's. I think JPEG support is supposed to be built in, but I doubt that IM uses VMS shared libraries to implement it, or installed images.

I also am inclined to believe that at one point in time the developers had VMS systems in-house, but from the sounds of some of the posts on the mail list, they lost them around 5.5.x and had to discontinue "official" support.

But I still can't get 5.4 working!

Thanks for trying it,
Aaron

[Karl Rohwedder]

I am using V5.1 of imagemagick without problems, just displayed the VMS_SHARK.JPG.
The kit contains a file delegates.mkg. This file describes additional formats, e.g. how to convert EPS etc. and does NOT mention JPEG. So I assume, JPEG support is builtin, as you supposed.

I kitted a VMSINSTAL kit myself in a former life out of a distribution from DuPont, don't where I got.

mfg Kalle

[Karl Rohwedder · Accepted solution]

To add some info to my own reply:

the following size contains some infos on how to get IMAGEMAGICK running:
http://nchrem.tnw.tudelft.nl/openvms/software2.html#Magick.

the V5.1 version can be obtained from:
http://decwarch.free.fr/image.html#IMAGE

mfg Kalle

[Aaron Sakovich]

Yeah! I just built the kit you referenced of the French site, Karl, and it worked.

YODA» identify DSC03687.JPG
dsc03687.jpg 480x640 DirectClass 59kb JPEG 0.5u 0:01

Unfortunately, this old version doesn't support EXIF, so I've got to work on getting 6.x running now.

From the looks of it, the big difference between the v5.1 and v6 kits is the inclusion of the jpeg, png, and tiff libraries in individual subdirectories. There's no indication in these directories where they came from, but I know that's referenced on the ImageMagick site. I've not yet found any link (pun intended) between the .OLBs in these subidrs and the final .EXE, but then I'm at work now telneted into my system at home to verify this in between other tasks.

Thanks, Karl -- this has been a big help in my moving forward with this. All I need to do is reverse engineer how this kit was built and apply the same technique to the v6 kit (I hope

[John Gillings]

What I really can't comprehend here is why it's doesn't seem possible to get a copy of a working executable image that proves this software works.

There seem to be explanations of how to do all kinds of convoluted things to do to make it work, but no "here is a kit, just install it".

Never did "get" the way Open Source is packaged and distributed. It's like going to buy a car and only being able to get it as a parts list, then having to go out and find them, and then put it together.

Aaron, if you manage to get it working, perhaps you could plug this gap and make the working images available?

[Aaron Sakovich]

Count on it!

I'm working on it right now. I've got the JPEG library built -- that was easy, as there was a descrip.mms file for it. All I had to do was install MMS, which took about 2 minutes and it worked.

However, I'm stumped right now trying to merge the JPEG library with ImageMagick -- I've got an error saying that some include files are missing. So much for having gotten the latest and greatest kit. :^P

/rant_mode=on/
I'm with you -- this U*X stuff is BS. Like I've always said, it's programmer friendly and user hostile. Give me a good old "Product install" over a "gz | tar | rpm | ./config | makefile......" hack ANY day! What a kludge. And they really call this "state of the art"? I guess what they don't know hurts us all!
/rant_mode=off/