* LibPng-1.2.36 for Windows *
=============================

What is it?
-----------
LibPng: PNG image compression library

Description
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The libpng package contains a library of functions for creating and manipulating PNG (Portable Network Graphics) image format files. PNG is a bit-mapped graphics format similar to the GIF format. PNG was created to replace the GIF format, since GIF uses a patented data compression algorithm. Libpng should be installed if you need to manipulate PNG format image files. Two major uses are: the World Wide Web (WWW) and image-editing. For the Web, PNG really has three main advantages over GIF: alpha channels (variable transparency), gamma correction (cross-platform control of image brightness), and two-dimensional interlacing (a method of progressive display). PNG also compresses better than GIF in almost every case, but the difference is generally only around 5
	 
Homepage
--------
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html
Sources: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/libpng/libpng-1.2.36.tar.gz
	 
System
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- Win32, i.e. MS-Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008 with msvcrt.dll
- if msvcrt.dll is not in your Windows/System folder, get it from
  Microsoft <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259403>
  or by installing Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher
  <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie> 
- zlib <http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/zlib.htm> 

Notes
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- Bugs and questions on this MS-Windows port: gnuwin32@users.sourceforge.net

Package Availability
--------------------
- in: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net
Installation
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Sources
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- libpng-1.2.36-src.zip

Compilation
-----------
The package has been compiled with GNU auto-tools, GNU make, and Mingw
(GCC for MS-Windows). Any differences from the original sources are given
in libpng-1.2.36-GnuWin32.diffs in libpng-1.2.36-src.zip. Libraries needed
for compilation can be found at the lines starting with 'LIBS = ' in the
Makefiles. Usually, these are standard libraries provided with Mingw, or
libraries from the package itself; 'gw32c' refers to the libgw32c package,
which provides MS-Windows substitutes or stubs for functions normally found in
Unix. For more information, see: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/compile.html
and http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/libgw32c.htm.
