contrib/mips-msa/README

OPERATING SYSTEM SPECIFIC MIPS MSA DETECTION
--------------------------------------------

Detection of the ability to execute MIPS MSA on an MIPS processor requires
operating system support.  (The information is not available in user mode.)

HOW TO USE THIS
---------------

This directory contains C code fragments that can be included in mips/mips_init.c
by setting the macro PNG_MIPS_MSA_FILE to the file name in "" or <> at build
time.  This setting is not recorded in pnglibconf.h and can be changed simply by
rebuilding mips/msa_init.o with the required macro definition.

For any of this code to be used the MIPS MSA code must be enabled and run time
checks must be supported.  I.e.:

#if PNG_MIPS_MSA_OPT > 0
#ifdef PNG_MIPS_MSA_CHECK_SUPPORTED

This is done in a 'configure' build by passing configure the argument:

   --enable-mips-msa=check

Apart from the basic Linux implementation in contrib/mips-msa/linux.c this code
is unsupported.  That means that it is not even compiled on a regular basis and
may be broken in any given minor release.

FILE FORMAT
-----------

Each file documents its testing status as of the last time it was tested (which
may have been a long time ago):

STATUS: one of:
   SUPPORTED: This indicates that the file is included in the regularly
         performed test builds and bugs are fixed when discovered.
   COMPILED: This indicates that the code did compile at least once.  See the
         more detailed description for the extent to which the result was
         successful.
   TESTED: This means the code was fully compiled into the libpng test programs
         and these were run at least once.

BUG REPORTS: an email address to which to send reports of problems

The file is a fragment of C code. It should not define any 'extern' symbols;
everything should be static.  It must define the function:

static int png_have_msa(png_struct *png_ptr);

That function must return 1 if MIPS MSA instructions are supported, 0 if not.
It must not execute png_error unless it detects a bug.  A png_error will prevent
the reading of the PNG and in the future, writing too.

BUG REPORTS
-----------

If you mail a bug report for any file that is not SUPPORTED there may only be
limited response.  Consider fixing it and sending a patch to fix the problem -
this is more likely to result in action.

CONTRIBUTIONS
-------------

You may send contributions of new implementations to
png-mng-implement@sourceforge.net.  Please write code in strict C90 C where
possible.  Obviously OS dependencies are to be expected.  If you submit code you
must have the authors permission and it must have a license that is acceptable
to the current maintainer; in particular that license must permit modification
and redistribution.

Please try to make the contribution a single file and give the file a clear and
unambiguous name that identifies the target OS.  If multiple files really are
required put them all in a sub-directory.

You must also be prepared to handle bug reports from users of the code, either
by joining the png-mng-implement mailing list or by providing an email for the
"BUG REPORTS" entry or both.  Please make sure that the header of the file
contains the STATUS and BUG REPORTS fields as above.

Please list the OS requirements as precisely as possible.  Ideally you should
also list the environment in which the code has been tested and certainly list
any environments where you suspect it might not work.