Re: abiword --help

> Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:08:32 -0400
> From: Dominic Lachowicz <domlachowicz@gmail.com>
> To: Dmitri <project1@sharedlog.com>, abi-user <abiword-user@abisource.com>
> Subject: Re: abiword --help
>
>
> > I think that abiword --to-png or --thumb does not work from command line
> > because it need a DISPLAY device. When I set Xvfb as a default display
> > device, abiword --to-png started behaving differently, instead of giving
> > some error it now just hangs.
> >
> > I wonder if anyone was able to create document preview pngs with abiword
> > on a server that does not have a display?
>
> --to-png is no longer supported in AbiWord 2.5. It never did what
> people thought it would anyway. It would convert any image format to

except me

I begged Dom to add that feature because I found myself stuck using a
really lame Operating System that didn't properly support PNG. I had very
little control over the software I could choose but I did always choose to
have abiword around so I really did appreciate being able to do quick
conversions from BMP to PNG. (I know the command line has a reputation
for being users unfriendly but certain "Image Manipulation Programs" fail
to provide user friendly command line arguments for format conversions and
instead expect you to learn complicated scripting languages for tasks that
shouldn't be complicated enough to even require scripting in the first
place.)

I'll be the first to admit the feature wasn't the best idea if only Dom
didn't do so already. Nowadays my employers till has me stuck using a
lame duck operating system but I no longer have the same urge to convert
most of my graphics to PNG and I care too much about good design to do
anything other than encourage the removal of that feature that Dom said
was misguided from day one.

-- 
Alan
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