[sane-devel] Please update description files

Henning Meier-Geinitz henning@meier-geinitz.de
Sat, 19 Jul 2003 13:36:07 +0200


Hi,

Please update your description files (doc/descriptions/*.desc) to use
the new :status values and remove the :backend status. So the users
get a better idea how good the support for their scanners are. Quote
from doc/descriptions.txt:

The keyword `:status' is an indication of the level of support for the model.
It's followed by one of the following keyword arguments: `:unsupported',
`:untested', `:minimal', `:basic', `:good', or `:complete'. The `:status'
keyword refers to the previous `:model', is optional and should be used only
once per model.
`:unsupported' means the device is not supported at least by this backend. The
keyword should only be used in the file `unsupported.desc', or to make clear
that a specific scanner is not supported by a backend. `:untested' means the
device may be supported but couldn't be tested. `:minimal' means that the
device is detected and scans at least in one mode. But the quality is bad or
important features won't work. `:basic' means it works at least in the most
important modes but quality is not perfect. `:good' means the device is usable
for day-to-day work. Some rather exotic features may be missing. `:complete'
means the backends supports everything the device can do.  Example: `:status
:untested'

Running "make" in doc/ will give you warnings for your backend if
there are still old :status values in your description file.

The following backend description files haven't been updated yet:

avision
canon
canon_pp
canon630u
coolscan2
fujitsu
gphoto2 (just remove the :status line, check spelling of comment :-)
hp
hp5400
hpsj5s
leo
matsushita
microtek
microtek2
mustek_pp
plustek
sceptre
sharp
snapscan
st400
teco1
teco2
teco3
umax
umax1220u
umax_pp

If you don't have enough time in the next few weeks please contact me.
I'll try to change your file to the new systax in this case. Before
the next release I'll update all remaining description files. However
it's better if the backend maintainer does it because he knows how
well his scanners are supported so I don't have to guess.

If you own a scanner that is supported by SANE please tell us if the
status mentioned on our pages is correct. E.g. search for your scanner
in the scanner search engine:
http://sane.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/cgi-bin/driver.pl

Currently the old status codes are translated to the new ones, but
this translation isn't very intelligent. A stable backend can still
provide only minimal support or vice versa.

Bye,
  Henning