Re: [cobalt-developers] RE: PHP 4.2.1 package for Raq 4

[Michael Stauber <devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

> We are however currently experiencing serious problems getting the GD
>  functions working in 4.2.1. They work fine in 4.1.2, but since 4.2.0 any
> Image function segfaults the apache/php instance

Yeah, I've been there, too. You know that the gd-1.8.4 you've chosen to use 
for your PHP versions is nothing but an inofficial and dirty hack? 

Usually gd does no longer support the creation of GIF images since gd-1.3.6 
due to the copyright and license issues revolving around the company Unisys 
and their patent on the GIF image format. Therefore Mr. Boutell dropped GIF 
support from gd-lib and switched it to support PNGs instead.

At one point or another some gentlemen took gd-1.8.3 and reverse engineered it 
in a fashion that it supports both GIF and PNG and released it as gd-1.8.4. 
Which is not an official release of gd authorized by Mr. Boutell.

In my own PHP-PKGs for the RaQ3 and RaQ4 I use the gd-2.0.1 RPMs for the PLD 
Linux Distribution and they work like a charm on the RaQs:

http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=gd&submit=Search+...&system=pld&arch=i386

That one has no GIF support - of course, but it doesn't really matter. If 
someone attempts to create a GIF from inside PHP then a PNG is created 
instead. However, if you choose that path, then you most likely have to 
repackage your Webalizer package, too.

-- 

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards

Michael Stauber
mstauber@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Unix/Linux Support Engineer