ghostscript : better to working together ?

[Didier Link]

> Didier Link wrote:
> > Hello All,
> >
> > I'm the official maintener of GNU-Ghostscript and I received some
> > messages about why continue to have 3 different versions of
> > ghostscript.
>
> GNU Ghostscript as in the FSF version, or GNU Ghostscript as in the
> official GPL Ghostscript distribution from Artifex?

The official FSF version is based on the GPL gs from Artifex.

>
> > I've begin to contact the Artifex developpers and I do the same here.
> >
> >
> > So, can you explain me the main differences between esp-gs and
> > GNU/GPL version (that's mainly the same code base). I understand the
> > need to easysoftware to have a better flexibility with esp-gs but
> > maybe it's possibly be based on the GNU or GPL codebase for a lesser
> > confusion for the users ?
>
> The only reason ESP Ghostscript exists is because of the historical
> time lag between AFPL Ghostscript and GPL Ghostscript.  Because of
> that lag, GPL Ghostscript often contained numerous bugs, and each
> Linux distro was maintaining a separate set of patches and drivers
> against the latest GPL release.

Thanks for the clarification, interesting for young people in this project ;)

[...]

> Anyways, we'd love to get all of the ESP Ghostscript stuff into GPL
> Ghostscript ASAP.

With your list I see some stuff that are already included in the GNU version and a lot (all ?) the others looks good for future inclusion.

I think that all your good work can lead to a "common" GPL/GNU version between the 3 actual packages for the best !

Esp-gs is at 8.15.2 release for the moment, are you working on a 8.55.x version ? Can we begin to merge some stuff between GNU and ESP at this point ?

Feel free to contact me !

Regards.

Didier Link