After seeing incredibly positive results on the `graphicsmagick`
branch, the change to use GraphicsMagick for image processing has been
merged to `master`. If you are using the updater script, this commit
will be applied automatically. This is a BAD THING:
!!! You still need to MANUALLY install GraphicsMagick from your
package manager, or visitors will not see any photos.
Debian: apt install graphicsmagick
Ubuntu: apt install graphicsmagick
Arch: pip -S graphicsmagick # probably, untested
Other: I'm sure you can work it out! :D
Did you install it? Are you done? Did you update and restart
Bibliogram? Did you test that photos work? Great! You may continue
reading.
---
Why this was done:
For a long time, Sharp has been used for resizing Instagram images
to the appropriate sizes for display in the browser.
For a long time, there have also been strange situations like
Bibliogram crashing, or forcing nginx to not handle requests and
consume 100% CPU until Bibliogram is stopped. This only happened on
some system. Even after spending several hours trying to debug
this, the only insights I could find were:
- It is somehow related to sharp
- It is somehow related to the number of received requests
(as if they "build up" somehow)
- Restarting Bibliogram removes the requests which had built up
While Sharp's platform compatibility has been better than I
expected, there have still been issues with some systems, notably
Android phones in Termux.
Switching to GraphicsMagick instead of Sharp solves these problems,
since there is no more Sharp.
BUT:
Sharp used to be installed as an npm package, which was part of the
automatic installer. `gm`, which I am using, is an npm package which
interfaces with the _system_ installation of GraphicsMagick rather
than providing the whole thing.
So you need to install GraphicsMagick from your system's package
manager to use the latest commits.
We will not change back to Sharp, since the crashing/nginx issues were
too severe and common. It's also not easy to provide both methods for
admins to pick from. If GraphicsMagick is literally not possible for
you, please email ~cadence/bibliogram-devel@lists.sr.ht and I'll see
what I can do to accommodate you.
Thanks for the understanding, and happy browsing.