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Provide support for EPS file format
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Description

Recently, in support of a transcription effort at Wikisource I asked and obtained a set of files being the figures for the UK Traffic Signs Manual. They are supplied as EPS.

The Inkscape (0.91) import uses Ghostscript to render(seemingly to an intermediate PDF) which is then imported, The quality is this is not ideal.

This dual conversion coupled with the somewhat obvious concerns previously noted about SVG rendering at Wikimedia projects, got me wondering if more direct backend support for EPS would be better, down rendering to PNG (as is currently done for SVG)..

I am opening this "bug" so that more direct EPS support can be disscussed and an appropriate architectural approach taken.

It was my understanding some PDF pages were already rendered using something like GhostScript-> Image, so with some modification, a soloution for EPS file (which are typically single page) could be created...

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ShakespeareFan00 raised the priority of this task from to Medium.
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Aklapper renamed this task from No support for EPS file format. to Provide support for EPS file format.Feb 8 2016, 9:46 PM
Aklapper lowered the priority of this task from Medium to Lowest.
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Where can examples of problems be seen, or is there no support at all? What would you like to see "supported"? What does "more direct EPS support" actually mean? For future reference, please also see https://mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_report_a_bug - thanks!

Currently there is NO support for EPS at all.

Steps:
1: Is the an unencumbered fileformat ? I know that Adobe has released PDF under a public license, but as far as I know, no such license exists for EPS. That might be blocking for Wikimedia, as the community only allows free file formats.
2: We need detection of eps files in the upload pipe
3: We quite likely need validation of eps files in the upload pipe
4: We need thumbnail / render support for eps

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Steinsplitter. · View Herald Transcript

1: I don't know.
2: Is there a magic?
3: Tricky, How are SVG and PDF validated?
4: Can Ghostscript export to PNG?

Some additional concerns.

  1. EPS Import would need "sanitisation", in converting to PDF and SVG there was sometimes render glitches.
  1. What about embedded fonts? Which aren't necessarily free. Not quite the same point as 1
ShakespeareFan00 changed the task status from Open to Stalled.Apr 17 2017, 11:33 AM

Marked as stalled, as it needs someone to check the patent sitaution.

Aklapper changed the task status from Stalled to Open.May 14 2020, 11:22 AM

1: Is the an unencumbered fileformat ? I know that Adobe has released PDF under a public license, but as far as I know, no such license exists for EPS. That might be blocking for Wikimedia, as the community only allows free file formats.

https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000246.shtml states

There appear to be no licensing problems associated with creating or editing EPS files. However, in practice, use of a PostScript interpreter, usually embedded in a software application or printer system, is essential for display, printing, or other use. Adobe embeds a PostScript interpreter into its own products and has made a PostScript Software Development Kit as well as a print engine available for license by commercial partners. GhostScript has been available since 1986 as an open source PostScript interpreter, but in 2017, commercial distribution requires a license, according to the Wikipedia entry for GhostScript.

Is the Affero GPL license a problem for Wikimedia/Mediawiki? The licensing seems to be do do with 'code' distribution as opposed to use of output: https://artifex.com/licensing/agpl/

Assuming The licensing issue can be resolved.

The thought was that the way to support EPS files would be to do an EPS->SVG conversion, and display the SVG. There would also potentially need to be a way of doing 'clean' font substitution, (or at the very least checking for embedded fonts, like happens for PDF.

@ShakespeareFan00: What does AGPL software code license have to do with EPS file format?

It's a concern, given the tools that might be needed to provide the support for that format.