[ginp-users] Snapshot 31 is available

[Brian B. <br...@pi...>]

I still use ginp to generate thumbnails for my photo collection, but 
have not been able to upgrade to java 7, or even to openjdk, for the 
last couple of years.

I eventually got annoyed enough to debug the problem properly. Ginp uses 
java.awt.image.AffineTransformOp to generate thumbnails. However, most 
implementations of this class use a proprietary sun class to do the 
work. This class is not shipped except except with the old sun java 6, 
leading to ClassNotFound or NoSuchMethod errors which might be trapped 
and reported as failures to generate the files.

Snapshot 31 is now available in the trunk on the project repository, and 
also for download as war and source packages. This new release should 
run successfully with openjdk 6 and 7, and also with oracle jdk 7. It 
uses a slower but portable algorithm to generate thumbnails by default, 
but also retains the original algorithm.

The underlying java bug has been reported several times, and has been 
accepted as regression because it used to work. Unfortunately, 
presumably because it does not compromise security, it has not been 
fixed in the 7u45 updates which are just becoming available. I have 
written some new unit tests, including one that will notify me when the 
java bug is eventually fixed.

I don't know how many people are still using Ginp, but this fix should 
allow you to bring your java up to date and thus avoid the security 
exposures associated with running a very old sun jvm. I haven't tried to 
resolve any other bugs in Ginp.

I hope this helps,

Brian