Changes/ImageMagick7

Upgrade ImageMagick to version 7

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

Upgrade ImageMagick to the latest 7.x version.

Owner

• Name: Neal Gompa, Sérgio Basto, Carl George
• Email: ngompa13@gmail.com, sergio@serjux.com, carl@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 38
• Last updated: 2022-12-12
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

ImageMagick in Fedora is currently on the 6.x version series. The latest version series is 7.x, and upstream now recommends upgrading to it. Some of this work has been verified ahead of time in a COPR project, which will be the starting point for the transition.

We will attempt to avoid introducing an ImageMagick6 compatibility package, but if it is needed, it will be introduced.

Feedback

This was discussed on the development mailing list prior to this Change with most commentators agreeing that upgrading the default package ("ImageMagick") and creating a compatibility package if needed of the legacy version ("ImageMagick6") is the right approach for Fedora.

The Change Owners privately discussed and came to the conclusion we should try this and proceed forward.

Benefit to Fedora

This brings us in line with upstream recommendations on how to ship ImageMagick, and gives users and developers access to the latest features and fixes being made available in the ImageMagick software.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Update ImageMagick to version 7: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/ImageMagick/pull-request/10
  • Rebuild reverse dependencies to link to v7 libraries
  • Any packages that cannot build or be adapted to build for v7 will need to switch to GraphicsMagick or an ImageMagick6 compatibility package will be introduced for them
  • As much as possible will be done in a side-tag to merge into Rawhide

• Other developers: N/A

• Release engineering: #11185

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with Objectives: N/A

Upgrade/compatibility impact

The main compatibility impact will be that third party packages will need to adapt to ImageMagick v7 or use alternatives instead. Within Fedora itself, these choices will be handled already.

How To Test

Install and use any of the packages

User Experience

This is largely an invisible change, so as long as applications using ImageMagick still work.

Dependencies

Reverse dependencies of the ImageMagick libraries.

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: In the event not everything can be migrated to ImageMagick 7, then the ImageMagick6 compatibility package will be introduced for them and they will be switched to that.
• Contingency deadline: Final freeze
• Blocks release? No

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes

The ImageMagick package is now based on the latest version 7 series. This brings new enhancements, including support for more image formats and features like HDR.