2006.12.22 17:50 "[Tiff] BigTIFF implementation project - seeking one additional sponsor", by Joris Van Damme

Folks,

Most of you probably remember the BigTIFF discussions... Not too long ago, this community developed a specification for an extension to TIFF to use 64bit offsets within a new variation of the format now referred to as BigTIFF. This allows file sizes up to 18000 petabytes, effectively infinite. This specification was developed with input from a variety of sources, including users of the libtiff library, representatives of Adobe (the owner of the TIFF specification) and developers of other TIFF codecs.

The BigTIFF specification has been successfully implemented my own proprietary AWare Systems TIFF codec. However, the LibTiff development team, myself included, has not been able to find the several months of development time required to implement support for BigTIFF in the LibTiff library.

I have agreed to implement a BigTIFF upgrade for LibTiff if reasonable financial support can be found for the project. To that end the "BigTIFF Sponsorship" effort was launched. It is described at:

   http://www.remotesensing.org/libtiff/BigTIFFProposal.html

So far we have been quite successful and have secured commitments from three of four needed sponsors, each for an amount of $6000 USD towards the project. This email is a solicitation for one final sponsor for the same amount so that we can launch the development project in February.

The proposal page above covers the details, but the gist is that the project will result in a LibTiff 4.0 circa July 2007 that will support reading traditional TIFF files, as well as BigTIFF files, and will support writing either variant.

This is an appeal from me then for one additional organization in our industry to step forward to support this important infrastructural project.

In addition to the technical benefits this project will bring, I believe the project press release will also bring a reputational benefit to all the sponsors. Additionally, I have agreed to throw in up to 20 hours of consulting and support, per sponsor, on any BigTIFF migration issues that a sponsor may be facing, and/or any additional related requests they may have.

Please contact myself or Frank Warmerdam if you are interested in taking the last sponsorship position so that we can launch the project on time.

Best regards,

Joris Van Damme
info@awaresystems.be
http://www.awaresystems.be/
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