069b4a30eb
Add ChangeLog generation makefile target. Group all copyright notices in AUTHORS. Update some doxygen comments, and allow fp_dev_close(NULL)
96 lines
2.8 KiB
Text
96 lines
2.8 KiB
Text
Copyright notices
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=================
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If you make a contribution substantial enough to add or update a copyright
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notice on a file, such notice must be mirrored in the AUTHORS file. This is
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to make it easy for people to comply to section 6 of the LGPL, which states
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that a "work that uses the Library" must include copyright notices from
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this library. By providing them all in one place, hopefully we save such
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users some time.
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USB
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===
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At the time of development, there are no known consumer fingerprint readers
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which do not operate over the USB bus. Therefore the library is designed around
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the fact that each driver drivers USB devices, and each device is a USB device.
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If we were to ever support a non-USB device, some rearchitecting would be
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needed, but this would not be a substantial task.
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GLib
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====
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Although the library uses GLib internally, libfprint is designed to provide
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a completely neutral interface to it's application users. So, the public
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APIs should never return GLib data types or anything like that.
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Two-faced-ness
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==============
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Like any decent library, this one is designed to provide a stable and
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documented API to it's users: applications. Clear distinction is made between
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data available internally in the library, and data/functions available to
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the applications.
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This library is confused a little by the fact that there is another 'interface'
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at hand: the internal interface provided to drivers. So, we effectively end
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up with 2 APIs:
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1. The external-facing API for applications
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2. The internal API for fingerprint drivers
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Non-static functions which are intended for internal use only are prepended
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with the "fpi_" prefix.
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API stability
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=============
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No API stability has been promised to anyone: go wild, there's no issue with
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breaking APIs at this point in time.
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Portability
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===========
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libfprint is primarily written for Linux. However, I'm interested in
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supporting efforts to port this to other operating systems too.
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You should ensure code is portable wherever possible. Try and use GLib rather
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than OS-specific features.
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Endianness must be considered in all code. libfprint must support both big-
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and little-endian systems.
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Coding Style
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============
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This project follows Linux kernel coding style but with a tab width of 4.
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Documentation
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=============
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All additions of public API functions must be accompanied with doxygen
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comments.
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All changes which potentially change the behaviour of the public API must
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be reflected by updating the appropriate doxygen comments.
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Contributing
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============
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Patches should be sent to the fprint mailing list detailed on the website.
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A subscription is required.
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Information about libfprint development repositories can be found here:
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http://www.reactivated.net/fprint/Libfprint_development
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If you're looking for ideas for things to work on, look at the TODO file or
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grep the source code for FIXMEs.
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