[Insight-developers] GDCM 2.x [was CMake Flag to make itk::Image behave like itk::OrientedImage]

[Stephen Aylward]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Karthik Krishnan
<karthik.krishnan at kitware.com> wrote:
> If I am not mistaken, I don't think the Backward compatibility policy
> applies to any of the third party software in Insight/Utilities.

Actually, we consider all API's published by ITK to be "public APIs of
ITK."    We debated how this applied to Utilities many years ago, and
the final agreement was that there should be every effort to maintain
the quality and backward-compatibility of the code and APIs in
Utilities as much as possible.   You can probably search the email
archives and find that discussion.

>
>> Here is what I am planning to do : add support for the new GDCM 2.x
>> architecture via the use of ITK_USE_SYSTEM_GDCM. A compiler #ifdef
>> will determine the MAJOR version of GDCM and if GDCM 2.x is found, a
>> different implementation will be used,
>
> Out of curiosity, is that more of a pain than upgrading the GDCM in
> ITK to 2.0.x ? If so, I wonder what the developers think about
> upgrading the GDCM in ITK, since DICOM handling is pretty fundamental
> for ITK.

I think we should upgrade.   If the API breaks backward compatibility,
then we need to acknowledge it, warn users, and try to mitigate the
negative effects.

The rough part happens is when someone has been compiling with
use-system-gdcm and that system gdcm is version X and now itk's
internal gdcm is moved to version X+1.    We may need to make changes
in ITK to allow either version to be used externally as well as
version X+1 internally.  Yuck...but an improved dicom reader is worth
it.

Stephen

>
> Thanks
> --
> Karthik Krishnan
> R&D Engineer,
> Kitware Inc.
> Ph: 518 371 3971 x119
> Fax: 518 371 3971
> _______________________________________________
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> Insight-developers at itk.org
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>



-- 
Stephen R. Aylward, Ph.D.
Chief Medical Scientist
Kitware, Inc. - North Carolina Office
http://www.kitware.com
(518) 371-3971 x300