Bug#349424: ITP: xcftools -- command-line tools for extracting data for XCF files

[Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>]

Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
Owner: Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>

* Package name    : xcftools
  Version         : 0.5
  Upstream Author : Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>
* URL             : http://henning.makholm.net/software
* License         : GPLv2
  Description     : command-line tools for extracting data for XCF files

This is a set of fast command-line tools for extracting
information from the Gimp's native image file format XCF.
The tools are designed to allow efficient use of layered XCF
files as sources in a build system that use 'make' and similar
tools to manage automatic processing of the graphics. These
tools work independently of the Gimp engine and do not require
the Gimp to even be installed.

"xcf2pnm" converts XCF file to ppm, pgm or pbm format, flattening
layers if necessary. If the image contains transparency, an alpha map
can be written to a separate file, or a background color can be
specified on the command line. The tool can either flatten the XCF
file as given, or extract specific layers named on the command line.

"xcfinfo" lists information about layers in an XCF file.



... Note that I am the upstream author myself. I wrote this tool
because I need it myself and there seems to be nothing comparable
available on the net. Then I put some extra work into polishing it
up for general consumption, because it seemed to be the Right Thing
to do - I cannot be the only one who have whished for such a tool
to exist.

There is a "xcftopnm" binary in gimp-perl, but it is very slow,
starting the Gimp engine to do the work. "Convert" from imagemagick
supposedly also understands XCF files, but not the ones I work with,
and it would probably be overkill to try to extend its command-line
interface to know about layers.

Nonetheless, packaging one's own software does smell slightly of
"vanity package" -- I'd appreciate comments. (IAADD, so I don't
desperately _need_ to package this, but Debian is still the most
convenient channel for making this widely available).

-- 
Henning Makholm                                "Amanda, I'm a mad scientist!
                                    Testing crazy things on myself and those
                             who are close to me is my job. It's what I do!"