				    libexif
				    -------

DESCRIPTION
-----------

libexif is a library for parsing, editing, and saving EXIF data. It is
intended to replace lots of redundant implementations in command-line
utilities and programs with GUIs.


FEATURES
--------

libexif supports parsing, editing and saving of EXIF data. In addition, it
has gettext support. All EXIF tags described in EXIF standard 2.1
are supported.


REQUIREMENTS
------------

libexif is written in plain C and does not require any additional library.


LIMITATIONS
-----------

libexif can only handle some maker notes, and even those not very well. More
work needs to be done. Note that libmnote has been merged with libexif - it
is no longer needed.


USAGE
-----

We have started documenting the libexif API using doxygen and are making
the results available at http://libexif.sourceforge.net/api/

Until someone writes some better documentation however, you need to refer
to the header files.

The short test-program test/test-mem illustrates how to create valid
EXIF data from scratch, how to save EXIF data and how to load EXIF data 
from data in memory. Don't hesitate to contact us 
(<libexif-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>) if you've got any questions
on how to use libexif.

To link to libexif into your own package, we recommend using the
pkgconfig utility (cf. http://pkg-config.freedesktop.org/wiki/). For
your convenience, libexif both provides libexif-uninstalled.pc and
installs libexif.pc.


FRONTENDS
---------

Right now, I know of the following frontends to libexif:
 - exif:     A small command-line utility to show EXIF information in JPEG
             files (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/libexif).
 - gexif:    A GTK+ frontend for editing EXIF data
             (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/libexif).
 - gphoto2:  A command-line frontend to libgphoto2, a library to access a 
             wide range of digital cameras (http://www.gphoto.org).
 - gtkam:    A GTK+ frontend to libgphoto2 (http://www.topfrose.de).
 - thirdeye: Digital photos organizer and driver for eComStation
             (http://ecomstation.ru/thirdeye).
 - digicam:  
If you would like to migrate your program to use libexif or add EXIF support
to it, don't hesitate to contact the authors.


LIBRARIES
---------

I know of the following libraries that use or have been inspired by libexif:
 - pel: PHP-Code (http://pel.sourceforge.net)


AUTHORS
-------

libexif has originally been written by Curtis Galloway
<curtisg@users.sourceforge.net>. Because of the original design not
supporting editing and saving, Lutz Müller <lutz@users.sourceforge.net>
rewrote libexif from scratch.


LINKS
-----

Some links you might want to check out if you are interested in further
information about EXIF.

 - http://drewnoakes.com/code/exif: metadata extraction framework in Java
 - http://www.pima.net: This is where I got the exif standard from. Site is
   down as of 2002/12/31.
 - http://www.jeida.or.jp: Can't remember any more. Site is down as of
   2002/12/31.
 - http://www.exif.org: information about the EXIF standard.
 - http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/index.html: Looks
   like libexif in Perl. Seems to support a lot of MakerNotes.
