Development project of JPEG codec library 'Libjpeg-Turbo' is difficult to continue due to lack of funds

Version 3.0.0 of the JPEG codec library ' Libjpeg-Turbo ' was released on July 3, 2023. However, the developers report that the project will be difficult to continue due to lack of funding.

libjpeg-turbo 3.0.0 has been released, and why there may never be a libjpeg-turbo 3.1
https://groups.google.com/g/libjpeg-turbo-announce/c/YZ2wRgB0zIE/m/UOjrm9quBQAJ

Libjpeg-Turbo is a JPEG codec library that speeds up libjpeg with SIMD instructions. Version 2.1.91 was released as 'Version 3.0 Beta 2' on February 9, 2023, and version 3.0.0 released on July 3 was added to version 2.1.91 with various modifications and Support has been implemented.

Mr. DRC, the developer of Libjpeg-Turbo, himself maintains three open source projects, of which VirtualGL and TurboVNC seem to earn income, but the development of Libjpeg-Turbo is completely unpaid work. It seems that there is On the contrary, DRC said that development had to be paused when he released version 2.0 of Libjpeg-Turbo in 2018 because he was in debt.

Mr. DRC said, 'My open source project has saved companies hundreds of millions of yen in labor and IT costs, but the income I receive from home is less than the starting salary of a new teacher.' says.

Libjpeg-Turbo has been adopted by various browsers, image viewers and editors, and is always under scrutiny and bugs are reported. In addition, Mr. DRC seems to have been pressed to increase the frequency of major updates of Libjpeg-Turbo from sponsor companies that have provided funds so far.

And it seems that version 3.0.0 was released later than planned, but the reason is that the vendor of the code signing certificate purchased changed the system, DRC explains that it is because it has become unusable. Since code signing certificates are essential for distributing software on macOS and Windows, the release of version 3.0.0 by June 2023 was delayed further.

According to DRC, the cost of reissuing a certificate is about four to five times the cost of renewing the certificate. The project budget was already estimated to be exhausted by May 2024, so it seems that reissuing the certificate was a heavy burden at the time of writing the article.

DRC said, ``Currently, Libjpeg-Turbo's budget only allows us to work for 8 to 10 hours per month.To fix all the bugs in the beta version of version 3.0. After borrowing all of them, I had to spend more than 70 hours free of charge, ”he said, and it will be impossible to consider new functions and provide technical support for at least the next 15 months.

Mr. DRC declares, 'Unless the Libjpeg-Turbo project can collect more funds, the project will only be able to do maintenance and there will be no release of version 3.1.' Donations to the Libjpeg-Turbo project can be made from the following GitHub sponsor page from $ 5 per month (about 700 yen).

Sponsor @libjpeg-turbo on GitHub Sponsors · GitHub
https://github.com/sponsors/libjpeg-turbo