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Little CMS Documentation

repository·master·Indexed 20 days ago

https://github.com/mm2/little-cms

A high-performance, open-source color management engine providing a full implementation of the ICC 4.4 specification. It supports V2 and V4 profiles, including abstract, device-link, and named color profiles. The engine is compatible with Autotools, CMake, and Meson build systems.

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What's inside Little CMS

  1. Overview of Little CMS color management engine

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    Little CMS is an open-source, small-footprint color management engine designed for high accuracy and performance. It is a full implementation of the ICC (International Color Consortium) specification 4.4, making it compatible with modern color management standards.

    Key capabilities include:

    • Full ICC 4.4 Conformance: Supports all V2 and V4 profiles.
    • Profile Support: Handles abstract, device-link, and named color profiles.
    • Broad Application: Used in printer firmware, monitors, digital cameras, RIPs, publishing, and scientific applications.

  2. Build System Support Overview

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    Little CMS supports three build systems with varying levels of maturity:

    • Autotools (autoconf/automake/libtool): Fully Supported. The traditional choice for Unix-like platforms.
    • CMake: Supported, in active development. Recommended for native Windows (MSVC) and cross-compilation.
    • Meson: Supported, in testing.

  3. Build Little CMS with Meson

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    Meson support is currently in testing. It requires meson and ninja to be installed.

    # Prerequisites: meson, ninja
meson setup build
ninja -C build
meson test -C build
meson install -C build

# To install to a custom prefix
meson setup build --prefix=/your/prefix

  4. Build Little CMS with CMake

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    CMake is supported and in active development. It is the recommended build system for native Windows (MSVC) builds. Building with CMake installs package config files (e.g., lcms2Config.cmake), allowing downstream CMake projects to find and link against lcms2 regardless of which build system was used to build the library.

    # Prerequisites: CMake 3.x or later
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build
ctest --test-dir build
cmake --install build

# To install to a custom prefix
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/your/prefix

  5. Build Little CMS with Autotools

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    Autotools is the traditional, fully supported build system for Unix-like platforms. It is the reference for test coverage and correctness. Note that Autotools does not support native Windows builds in environments without a POSIX shell (e.g., MSVC-only environments); use CMake for those cases.

    # If building from a git checkout
./autogen.sh

# Standard build sequence
./configure
make
make check
make install

# To install to a custom prefix
./configure --prefix=/your/prefix

  6. Check plugin licenses before commercial use

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    While the LittleCMS core is released under the MIT license, individual plugins may be released under different licenses. Specifically, the fast_float and threaded plugins are released under GPL3. Always verify the license of any plugin before integrating it into a commercial project.

  7. Report build issues for Little CMS

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    If you encounter issues with any build system, report them via the lcms-user mailing list or GitHub Issues. When reporting, include:

    • The build system used (Autotools / CMake / Meson) and its version.
    • The operating system and architecture.
    • Whether you are cross-compiling (and the host/target tuple).
    • The full error output.

  9. Identify Little CMS version and product metadata

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    The Little CMS (lcms2) binary contains embedded version and product information. This metadata can be used to verify the engine version and identify the product description and legal copyright information.

    Note: The version information in the resource script may differ from the current repository version depending on the specific build target.

    FileDescription: lcms color engine
FileVersion: 2.19.0.0
InternalName: lcms2
LegalCopyright: Copyright © Marti Maria 2026
OriginalFilename: lcms2.dll
ProductName: LittleCMS color engine
ProductVersion: 2.19.0.0