Bug 124513 - improve x-face generation from images
Summary: improve x-face generation from images
Status: RESOLVED WAITINGFORINFO
Alias: None
Product: kmail
Classification: Unmaintained
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 1.9.1
Platform: unspecified Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: kdepim bugs
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2006-03-29 20:41 UTC by Derek Broughton
Modified: 2012-08-19 00:35 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Derek Broughton 2006-03-29 20:41:01 UTC
Version:           1.9.1 (using KDE 3.5.2, Kubuntu Package 4:3.5.2-0ubuntu0 dapper)
Compiler:          Target: i486-linux-gnu
OS:                Linux (i686) release 2.6.15-19-686

If I go to http://www.dairiki.org/xface/xface.php and create an xface from my own image file, I get this:

X-Face: *B#;ocY:Hn?+%^}G)eOe'lPFb'~NYPy~/n7^Z7N:]>$](g5X"$z]@DSglXz8SOz3-5r6&j0
 .GUVzl:.*_{J"cw3(4e-+74$dZ:rBj/GQA4;0rhSNaG]0w.UahTrw&sh`o_+ly~3*!PhW%5~L9g*_"
 3)4V>RyiMBG=4hGVJ(.Gn/onlx`"4p>s=j[x

If I insert the same image into my default contact in KMail, the image that gets sent is

X-Face: $8*+wlw1rqSy9!a2S@qC=KKj\#|s0_\-"gpOC>A?D1hh$YRdlqXS17&*3WCd41"f|8c;o:
        z=Q7W~[-9'yy<tNcR[~{)DB2o5{GSC(>!wNYiC'+oO*V`"0v:shXVY7ZrwR)M8a*mW0b?x
        =C.s.)YB4K?^kfix%25X<eO1b~YZw*/T^}nxw?VV-VpK.R0Ms@*i\I;2$n05B}4fPLpXD%
        i=;}BQve85;_gn@,E:fM5zJ_R-w:O?F7
 
The former is a recognizable image of me (at least to me!) the latter is not.  I can even build the former image _from_ the x-face code on the Dairiki site, download that and store it in my KMail contact page, and get exactly the same result.
Comment 1 Ingo Klöcker 2006-03-30 00:38:31 UTC
I don't understand the problem. Are you trying to say that the x-face that KMail generated from some picture of you is of poor quality? Or is there a problem with the x-faces KMail sends, i.e. does KMail corrupt the x-faces in some way?

The former really doesn't qualify as bug in KMail. It's pretty much obvious that an application (even if it's written in PHP) which specializes in generating x-faces from image files produces x-faces of higher quality than an application which specializes in managing your e-mail.
Comment 2 Derek Broughton 2006-03-30 18:11:48 UTC
I'm saying that an application that uses the standard netpbm toolkit does a _far_ better job of converting an image for an x-face.  What's more, when I take the website-produced image - already 48x48 - and add it to the addressbook, the image I see in the address-book is identical (at least to my eye) to the one on the web-page.  When it gets sent back to me in an email, it's just a bunch of dots.

If Kmail can't use the same method (quite well described on the dairiki site) it should at the very least let me plug the X-Face code in directly.  As it is, the only way to get a usable x-face is to remove the image from the addressbook and add the X-Face header.

Yes, it does qualify as a bug in KMail - there's no point in including code that does such a poor job of handling a single-bit 48x48 image.  
Comment 3 Ingo Klöcker 2006-04-01 00:34:10 UTC
We are using the standard tools provided by Qt for generating the x-face from the image. So blame Qt.

Moreover, you can plug the X-Face code directly into KMail. Just change the setting for "Obtain picture from:" to "Input Field Below" and copy the X-Face code into the input field.

Feel free to find someone who improves KXFace::fromImage() which can be found in kdepim/libkdepim/kxface.cpp. We won't spend time on this.
Comment 4 Ingo Klöcker 2006-04-01 22:43:47 UTC
My last comment was a bit too harsh. Since this is an excellent junior job I'll make it one.
Comment 5 Myriam Schweingruber 2012-08-18 08:29:20 UTC
Thank you for your feature request. Kmail1 is currently unmaintained so we are closing all wishes. Please feel free to reopen a feature request for Kmail2 if it has not already been implemented.
Thank you for your understanding.
Comment 6 Luigi Toscano 2012-08-19 00:35:48 UTC
Instead of creating a new feature request, please confirm here if the wishlist is still valid for kmail2.