jp2a

jp2a is a simple JPEG to ASCII converter.

The source is available at https://github.com/cslarsen/jp2a. This project used to be hosted on SourceForge.

License

You can read the full license in the file COPYING. jp2a also uses other libraries. These licenses can be found in the file LICENSES.

Example: Oswald the lucky rabbit

                                                             ......
                                                     .:lOKMMMMMMMMMM0l
                                                .;dOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMW.
                                            .ckWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMO
                                         .dXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMO
                                      .xWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMO:.
                                    lXMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWOOxc'
                .;lxOOOOOxdl:.    cMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWKklc'..
            'llc..   ..:oMMMMMMKxNMMMMMMMMMM0kl:'.
          :0'             cMMMMMMMMMMMMWd'.
        .K:l0              .MMMMMMMMMMl.
       ,K    W              ,MMMMMMMMMMMMN0dl'
       M.    M               MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMKx:.
      cMMK                   WMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMXd'
      NMMM:                  MMMMMMMMMMMXWMMMMMMMMMMMMNd'
      KMMMW                  MMMMMMMMMMM' ;XMMMMMMMMMMMMMWd'
       MMMM                 XMMMMMMMMMMM    dMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNc
  ''   NMKWl'             .KMMMMMMMMMMM'     :MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMd
 KMWMKOk    '           ,lXMMMMMMMMMMM;       .KMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM0
 KMMMMM.                    .cOMMMMMW'          kMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX
  cOXMNXl.            ......   .MWd. .0cc:'      .NMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMk
        .cololoxKWWWXWMMMMMMM:  M   c:. .l0ok      oMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                  .'Mo,MMMMNk:lO' :l  .OMMMMl       .OMMMMMMMMMMMMN
                   X0'OkxkxOK;.  :: ,.XMMMMMMO    :O   lXMMMMMMMMk
                    kc,,o0M0.:;c'N  ko;lMMMMMM:'xMMMNWKO,.clxdl:.
                   ;00xkM:d ,   ..     oMMMMMM cMMMMMMMMl
                   c   N0l       .  .l:;;oKMMk  MMMMMMMMM0
                   O   ,.ocOc..l..k'   .:c;'O   0MMMMMMMX.
                  X     N..l  .c           K.   OMMMMMMM
                 .'     c.     :           M .  OMMM0,.;
                :,   N.;W       ;          O...o .,.
                d    M  ;X'     :l             :
                d..':. lcKol,,,,'.:c,,'.cd;'o,'.
                  . ;:,WMMMMMMXx,; M0XXNNWM.
                       MMMMMMMM   .MMMMMMMM
                       MMMMMMMM   .MMMMMMMM.
                      :ONMMMMMM0:':MMMMMMMMM:
            ;c:,'',::lX'  '',''   .MMMMMMMMMMWK:c:
           x.          .lloc;.',lxl..lKMMMMMKl   M
          0           .;,;'......;::c'  ..     ;dl;l'
         ;O:        .d'              .lkk::::;,     'k
         N.'oc'.    M                   :            X
          lo:. ',::xN:                             .x0'
            .,lccccM .ll,.                . ;;:::;c'.0
                   .kl.  .c::lcccccc:cc::;  .''clccl.
                      'lcl:lc::,,'::cc:cc:c,..

The Oswald character is Copyright Walt Disney, and, unfortunately, not in the public domain. However, I believe that I can use this picture under the fair use clause, for demonstrational purposes, especially in low-resolution, ASCII format. If I am wrong, I will promptly remove it.

Installation

Look in your system's package manager. I don't maintain Windows binaries anymore.

Building

If you want to compile from source, you need autotools and automake. You may need to specify the path to jpeglib. I usually just do

autoreconf -vi
./configure --with-jpeg-prefix=/usr/local \
            --with-curl-config=`which curl-config`
make -j

Before installing, you may want to check that jp2a works by running src/jp2a on some .jpg files. The check target is currently broken, and won't help you. When you're ready to install,

make -j install

jp2a depends on jpeglib. In case configure fails beacuse jpeglib is not installed, it can be built and installed manually. Independent JPEG Group provides a UNIX format package in tar.gz format which can be downloaded from http://www.ijg.org/.

Extract the archive and follow the instructions inside 'install.txt' to build and install it. For a default install, the corresponding .so (shared object) files will be present in /usr/local/lib/

Next, run the command ldconfig (escalated privileges may be required) to configure dynamic linker run-time bindings. See its man page for more details. The configure command should work after that.

If configure can't automatically find jpeglib, specify with

./configure --with-jpeg-include=PATH --with-jpeg-lib=PATH

or you can just type the prefix

./configure --with-jpeg-prefix=/usr/local/

You can also compile jp2a with libcurl, so it can automatically download images from the net:

./configure --enable-curl

This will look for curl-config in $PATH, but you can specify it directly with --with-curl-config=PATH if you need to.

Windows

You need a working jpeglib for Windows and set up include paths yourself. You will need to manually type out a config.h file. Example:

WIN32
NDEBUG
_CONSOLE
PACKAGE_STRING=\"jp2a x.x.x-win32\"
PACKAGE_BUGREPORT=\"csl@csl.name\"
HAVE_STRING_H
HAVE_STDLIB_H
FEAT_CURL
HAVE_CURL_CURL_H
CURL_STATICLIB
FEAT_TERMLIB

You need to add jpeg.lib to the linker. If you want libcurl support, you need that as well. It should be available from http://curl.haxx.se

cslarsen / jp2a