libdmtx / News: Recent posts

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.4, introducing significant structural changes designed to make libdmtx useful for a wider audience.

Some of the changes include:

* The core library (not including command line utilities or wrappers) is now distributed under a permissive BSD license. This detail is important for people developing on certain closed platforms.

* Revision control has been transitioned from SVN to Git, and is now broken up into libdmtx, dmtx-utils, and dmtx-wrappers. Code in the latter two repositories is still distributed under the LGPLv2.... read more

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.2, which is a bug fix release with a handful of new features but no major changes to the core library since 0.7.0.

In addition to bug fixes, the most significant improvements include:

* Fast quad fill for dmtxDecodeMatrixRegion() (thanks Mackenzie!)
* Decoding support for "05 Macro" and "06 Macro" (thanks Marlon!)
* New wrapper for the Vala language (thanks Evan!)
* Wrapper integration in build system (thanks Evan!)
* Several improvements to Python wrapper (thanks Simon!)... read more

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.0, featuring an updated API, new features, and multiple new language options. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

New features in 0.7 include:

* A Java wrapper! (thanks Pete and Dikran!)
* A C#/.NET wrapper! (thanks Vali and Joe!)
* A set of Visual Studio 9.0 files! (thanks Cameron!)
* New no-copy pixel communication
* Improved support for Text/C40 reading (thanks Robin!)
* Changed from GraphicsMagick to ImageMagick dependency
* dmtxwrite support for major image formats, including SVG
* Several bug and compiler warning fixes
* Cocoa wrapper works again (thanks Romain!)
* More cross platform improvements... read more

After months of adding features, fixing bugs, tuning performance, and writing documentation, libdmtx version 0.6.0 is now released into the wild. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

Contributions for this release came from all over, and libdmtx now runs on its largest combination of platforms and languages ever. Significant updates in this release include:... read more

The libdmtx project has released version 0.5.2, a recommended upgrade that provides dramatically improved performance over previous versions. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

A minor release in name only, libdmtx 0.5.2 delivers several performance enhancements, bug fixes, and general improvements over previous versions. We still have a few enhancements that haven't made it in yet, which is why this is a minor release, but most users will already see big performance gains by ugrading to 0.5.2. In extreme cases it's not unusual to see a 500x (or better) speedup over 0.5.1 runtimes when proper tuning parameters are used.... read more

libdmtx is open source software for reading and writing Data Matrix barcodes. At its core libdmtx is a shared library, allowing C/C++ programs to use its capabilities without restrictions or overhead. It also has fully featured command line utilities.

The libdmtx project has released version 0.5.1, a recommended upgrade to fix known issues in 0.5.0. libdmtx is an open source package for reading and writing Data Matrix barcodes on Linux, OS X, Windows, and several mobile devices. At its core libdmtx is a shared library, allowing C/C++ programs to use its capabilities without restrictions or overhead.... read more

Seriously, Cognex? The ink isn't even dry on the Acacia ruling and Cognex has sued MvTec Software GmbH and Fuji America Corp. for allegedly infringing on several of their patents:

http://www.cognex.com/CognexInfo/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?id=3044

Now, I don't know any details on this case so I'm not passing judgment here, but it certainly doesn't look good. The fact that they are suing a software company speaks volumes, and should be alarming to anyone who fears the abuse of software patents.... read more

A libdmtx documentation wiki is now available at:

http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net/

(You can also get there by using the "Wiki" tab on the SourceForge project page.)

Anyone and everyone should feel free to contribute, edit, and otherwise maintain these pages to their heart's content. libdmtx now runs on far more platforms than the authors have access to, so any documentation the community can provide will be immediately helpful.

Version 0.5.0 of the libdmtx Data Matrix barcode reading/writing software was released on April 13, 2008, and is a significant release for a few major reasons:

1) All of the known instabilities from 0.4.0 have been fixed
2) Significantly faster scans (with more room for improvement)
3) Two words: ERROR CORRECTION

This version introduces full Reed Solomon error correction provided by libfec, and should make libdmtx instantly attractive to a wider audience that has been holding out for this feature. There are still tons of new features in the works, but the updates described above were just too significant not to be available in the stable version.... read more

Version 0.4.0 of libdmtx was released on December 7, 2007. It was a long wait for this one, but hopefully we can fall into a more regular release cycle now.

If people uncover any show-stopping bugs due of the under-tested nature of this release we might need another incremental release before focusing on new features. Otherwise I plan to upload the code to a Subversion repository at SourceForge in the coming days.

Last year I halted distribution of libdmtx because of a troubling patent situation. I didn't have any personal involvement with the patent claims or with the resulting lawsuit, but I felt this move was necessary to avoid any chance of problems in the future.

Like I originally predicted, the patent lawsuit is still unresolved a year later and the case's schedule and decision remain unknown. However, I did find a court order from a few weeks ago that ruled on some disputed terminology and I'm more confident than ever that temporarily halting the project was the right move.... read more

I just wanted to drop a note letting everyone know that I haven't forgotten about libdmtx. I am still maintaining the self-imposed ban on distribution of enhancements, and I'm anxiously awaiting November 2007 when I can continue where I left off.

In other news, SourceForge appears to be ramping up the beta for it's "Buy Services" program, under which they would facilitate the purchase of support or new development for open source projects. I can't participate in this offer until after November, but I am possibly interested in joining after that.... read more

The third version of libdmtx was released on October 15, 2006. This release is happening sooner than I planned because it's at a point where I need to break the library for a while in order to rip out and replace the main region detection algorithm. If all goes well the next version should produce better results from images taken in poor lighting and noise conditions.

Before breaking the CVS version, though, I'm releasing v0.3 so everyone can continue using the latest code with all the restructuring, bug fixes, and enhancements that have happened since v0.2. Hopefully you will notice improved stability and scanning success rates.

I uploaded the most recent version to SourceForge CVS this week, so this will be my "working copy" from now on. For CVS non-experts (like me) I put up some basic checkout and update instructions at:

http://www.libdmtx.org/downloads.php

This isn't exactly "news", but I wanted to show at least a small sign of life since we haven't made any announcements for a few months.

This summer has been incredibly busy with non-computer activities and I'm dying to get under way again. We have received all kinds of patches and enhancements that will be in the next release, and of course stability is at the top of the list for improvements, but what else would you like to see?... read more

The second version of libdmtx was released on June 11, 2006. It now has:

* Encoding capability (finally)
* An API capable of passing data back to calling program
* Command line utilities "dmtxread" and "dmtxwrite"
* Reed-Solomon error detection (no error correction yet, though)
* Improved documentation (comments and man pages)
* Sample program that decodes its own encoded barcode... read more

The first version of libdmtx was released on April 22, 2006. It's not quite ready for Prime Time, but it's still fun to play with the test program (see screenshots).

The Data Matrix specification I ordered from ISO arrived in the mail yesterday! Weighing in at a dainty 95 pages, the booklet makes up in content what it lacks in girth. However, at a whopping 188CHF (~150USD) the per-page price ($1.58/page) is my personal record (Take THAT, college textbooks!). And the pictures aren't even in color! ;P

libdmtx was approved for hosting on SourceForge on 22-NOV-2005.