Re: output-attributes on Cairo backend

[Jean Abou Samra]

Le 17/10/2022 à 18:06, Paolo Prete a écrit :
> Thanks for this information. The issue was created 12 years ago (!) 
> and it received no feedback. Therefore I presume it won't be fixed 
> because there's no interest in fixing it.




I would not be so quick. FLOSS projects are developed on a
long time scale.

As an example, a few months ago, Martín fixed an issue that
had received no comments for 10 years.

https://gitlab.com/lilypond/lilypond/-/issues/2747


> But what is your plan about the SVG output? I mean:


Well, who does 'you' refer to, the development team in general
or me specifically? I don't have any authority in the project
(nobody has), and I can't predict what the outcome of a concrete
proposal in this area could be. Plans to remove the current SVG
backend have only been briefly evoked in the beginnings of the
Cairo backend, and not in light of the fact that Cairo doesn't
support arbitrary attributes.

We are writing the future here, not reading it ...


> 1) Is your plan to drop the SVG backend *only if/when* 
> output-attributes can be added to the Cairo backend?


Here I can confidently say that we're unlikely to drop the current
SVG backend as long as this feature is not implemented in the Cairo
backend, based on the usual guarantees about preserving existing
(not completely broken or obsolete or superseded) features. Especially
since adding arbitrary attributes enables important applications of SVG
output, like making animations and such.


> 2) Is your plan to eliminate the SVG backend or would you like to 
> simply make it non-default ?


Ultimately, I consider it likely that the SVG backend will be
removed if Cairo provides all that it can do, because there would
then no longer be a point in maintaining that code. But again,
I can't speak for the project as a whole.

Jean