[FWTools] FWtools for linux

[Frank Warmerdam]

rengifo wrote:
> It is  sad to hear that  Fwtools for  linux  is not produced anymore.
> Any reason  for that?
> 
> Linux ubuntu user and FWtools user

Rengifo,

OpenEV consists of many now ancient technologies (gtk 1, and not very
widely used python bindings for gtk and opengl, ...)  When my old
build server died, I made a feeble effort to get builds running on a
newer server but was unsuccessful.  I'm sure I could have overcome
the issues, but I lacked the time or enthusiasm to attack it.

I will note that my primary development desktop is Ubuntu and I
am still using the last FWTools OpenEV binaries as my day-to-day
image viewer.   So it isn't that I don't love linux or OpenEV.

But I do feel that OpenEV 1's time has pretty much passed and I'm
not keen to sink much more effort into it.  I'd like to try OpenEV 2
but my efforts with it have been frustrating.  I'm trying to transition
to QGIS as my primary viewer but I don't yet find it as comfortable a
raster viewer for some real reasons, and some more to do with my own
sloth and entrenched habits.

I have received some client support for good GDAL binaries on Linux, and
I hope that will turn into a nice easy to install binaries for Linux in
the coming months.  But I do not anticipate it including OpenEV.

Part of the "magic" of FWTools on linux was also the fact that it was
built on an ancient machine, such that with a bit of care it could run
on almost any age of linux-on-intel sort of system including 64bit linux
with a few 32bit compatability packages installed.  With that old machine
gone it would also take effort to duplicate that primitive environment.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent