[mapserver-dev] plugin renderer support status update

[thomas bonfort]

hi Steve(s)

On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 16:30, Steve Lime <Steve.Lime at dnr.state.mn.us> wrote:
> A nice Christmas present indeed! You'll have to let devs know how we
> can help.
I've got a miriad of questions that would need answering. I'm hoping
this can be a topic of the code sprint as I feel they would be best
addressed without having to go through the lag of email.
For now, it might be a good idea to ask ourselves about the future of
the pdf/svg output in future releases, as the current drivers seem to
have fallen behind and lack maintanance. There has been some talking
about dropping pdflib for another pdf backend: any update on this? I
also have the feeling that adding a native kml outputformat would be a
trifle with the plugin approach.

> Can the OpenGL implementation use this approach?
I certainly hope so. I doubt it could be used as-is, so this will be a
good moment to work on the api the renderers should be presenting to
mapserver.
Toby, Jonathan, I'm not sure how we can get in sync on this. I'm
usually on #mapserver irc, but mostly in european daytime hours.

>
> I'm not sure what your time line looks like but I would think an addition
> like this plus the other things in the queue at the moment hint more at a
> 6.0 release than 5.4. Curious what others think...
I definitely think so to.
This could be the time to break some backwards compatibility with
respect to type vector symbols:
 * switch their rotation direction: their angle is currently treated
clockwise, all other symbols are anticlockwise (or the other way
around, I don't remember)
 * I'd also like to have the vector symbols be centered on their (0,0)
point, which would allow preciser placement. thoughts... ?

cheers,
thomas