Re: A few issues with thumbs.el

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

    >     Seems quite good although I don't like the idea of using PNG-files as
    >     their size is much larger than using JPEG.
    >
    >     The file names are named according to the absolute URI's MD5 value,
    >     which most in this thread seems to dislike (including myself).
    >
    > Would someone like to design a GNU standard for thumbnails?

    I would say that GNU standard should be equal to the freedesktop.org standard.
    There is absolutely no reason to split over this issue.

The "freedesktop.org standard" is simply the preference of a certain
group of people.  The questions they express opinions about are
primarily (though not exclusively) the design conventions of the GNU
system--but they are not part of the GNU Project and do not cooperate
much with the GNU Project.  That is not very nice.

They are entitled to state their preferences, but those preferences
are merely their preferences, nothing more.

If they propose something that is good, we may as well use it.  It
would be silly to deliberately make something inferior.  However,
people have already stated here the reasons why that particular
proposal would be inconvenient.

      If there are problems
    with the mentioned proposal, then they should be discussed with its maintaner.

Whoever wants to talk with them about changing it is welcome to do so.
I will not approach them as a suppliant on behalf of the GNU Project
because that would endorse the unacceptable idea that the GNU Project
needs their approval.  However, it would cause no problem if you talk
with them.

Meanwhile, to prevent things from simply drifting into following their
proposal, I am looking for someone who would like to draw up a GNU
standard for where to store thumbnails.  To have a concrete better
alternative written down cannot hurt the chances of convincing anyone.