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Member images sent using the forum email option are also scanned and recoded

Started by TelePlay, November 07, 2017, 06:50:25 PM

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TelePlay

Regardless of what some think is being done, correctly or to their liking, about uploading images to the forum, given the SMF platform and the advent of 12 MP PCS cameras producing very large imaged filled with image and personal meta data, we have studied, discovered and fixed to the best of the ability given the tools made available by the SMF programmers, we have tried to stay on top of any and all image and/or file uploading issues including security errors due to attached meta date and buffer stack page lockup due to the overly large size of images that some members have tried to attach to topics and/or replies.

The Security Error has been FIXED by way of the SMF security check and recoding modules.

That leaves upload issues dealing with file size. Members objected when a 4 MByte maximum file size limit was placed on image uploads so that was removed with the self imposed request/requirement that members rotate, crop and down size images before attaching them to topics or replies.

As discussed in a different topic, images greater than 4MBytes can and may cause the buffer stack to overflow leading to the reply locking up or having a new and empty "Post Reply" page being displayed. In either case, hitting the back button and F5 will clear the blockage allowing the text to be saved (not lost) and new, smaller images attached.

Didn't want to rehash that issue here but it sets up something new learned about the forum and images.

A member who was having difficulty loading images from their PCS 12.2 MP camera directly to the forum was asked to send them to me by way of email. The member first sent them using the email icon under my profile. That member said when that was tried, after hitting send, the page/software just churned and churned.

The images were then sent directly to me by normal email. This is what was discovered.

As we know, emails sent using the icon under a profile are first sent to the SMF server and forwarded on to the members email of record, stated on the profile page. It is a two step process. That's just he way it works. But in doing that, using that way to send an email, any images attached are also scanned by the SMF security module and recoded to strip away most of the meta data.

In this case, I had two images, one sent by direct email and the other that eventually came through the forum email option. The direct image was a bit over 6 MBytes in size. The image sent by way of the forum email was 3.8 MBytes in size. It was recoded but due to the size and the email option, not a reply to topic option, the SMF software tried to recode it and sent what it did.

It was interesting in that the forum email image was not only smaller but the meta data as not totally stripped and the camera name within the meta data was changed from iPhone to Samsung. Indications that the SMF software had problems recoding the large, 6MByte image and ended the processing with data errors within the file. 80% of the original meta data was gone and the 20% that was left was not appropriate to the image being processed.

The original image sent using direct email was resized so that the largest side of the image was 2500 pixels. That file as saved and attached to the topic created by the member who took the image. The image uploaded without issue and upon examining the meta data of the image after posting to the forum, 98% of the meta date was gone and the camera information was gone, replaced by the SMF "CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0" module.

An simple, error free upload after minor and quick image editing prior to attaching and uploading the image.

A lot of stuff above but it does show that we do try to stay on top of issues, fix them as best possible and post the information for all to read, to know about.

The following shows the affect on member resizing and SMF recoding prior to uploading as an attachment to a topic or reply.