Github is unable to properly rotate images: what kind of challenges could they be facing?
 

For years now, Github's code preview features and wiki have been unable to deal with image EXIF data. This means that often images are turned the wrong way.

In addition, their internal "markup" language has no mechanism to rotate an image.

For me personally 100% of my images are turned the wrong way in Github. Yet 100% of my images work correctly on 100% of my computers.

The conspiracy theorist idea I have is that they want all projects to look as unprofessional as possible. After all, if all your images are flipped no one is going to take your work seriously. Maybe you can then "buy in" to actually have working images.

What kind of issues could they be facing in implementing something so simple?

Finally, are competing services like Gitlab handling image orientation correctly?

It would be a lot of work to move my project around but if that is what it takes to look professional then maybe I can live with that.

Nobody is paying them to implement it correctly.

I'm betting Linus didn't give a damn about images during the BitKeeper furore - maybe the sentiment continues.

Honestly, I'm going to go with "they didn't think it was causing anyone problems".

I've never had that problem myself, I don't know anyone who did, and when I googled for it this is the only hit I got:

https://stackoverflow.com/q/19434073/240515

Send them a support email.

EDIT: Also found this.

https://github.com/github/markup/issues/1140

EDIT: And this:

https://www.daveperrett.com/articles...g-is-a-ghetto/

conspiracy theory?
i think this explanation is much more likely:

You will laugh at me, but so far I had no idea that Github was an image-manipulating system; I thought it was a public git-repository.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in General forum and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

Thanks for moving this to the appropriate place. I could not decide where to put it.

I did read over that stackoverflow thread already and it boiled down to manually rotating the image in an editor program. This bothers me because it should work as-is.

I had also read the Github thread already and to me it seemed like the problem was being swept under the rug by Github. I figured more exposure of the problem on this site could not hurt.

I just now skimmed the "EXIF Orientation is a ghetto" link and it looks like the best way for Github to handle it is to provide some kind of toggle option for "Use EXIF Orientation".

NevemTeve - here are some examples of where images could be used on a code website:
You have made a mod for a game and want to post a screenshot
You have made a hardware device that also includes code and want to include an image of the device
You have an elaborate procedure best described in a flow chart-like or wiring-like diagram

I also already sent a support e-mail to Github a while back but I was fuming mad about the problem as I always am after posting a new project. So they probably did not receive it well. The workflow usually is:

1. Work hard on a project a long time
2. Take a carefully crafted image of the final product
3. Post the work including images
4. See the images are flipped the wrong way
5. Fly into a rage/depression

Anyway maybe this will help give the problem the exposure it needs for them to do something about it.

If all your images are rotated wrong in the same way, then just batch-fix them all with ImageMagick before uploading them.

So what exactly the problem is?
1. You wish Github would rotate images, but it doesn't.
2. You wish Github wouldn't rotate images, but it does.

Sometimes, using simpler libraries is a security blessing.

No conspiracy necessary. Feel free to start "rotated-images-hub" and rake it in, though.

Would this be a more honest description of what you actually did?

1. take a photograph
2. upload the photograph (unmodified)

Most of these wouldn't be photographs and thus wouldn't depend on exif tags for orientation though.

I am not a photographer. Just getting the image steady would qualify for me as "carefully crafted". If someone wants to pay me to do to work to update the images I am all for it.

Frankly it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. I am not going to do a bunch of work to images so that 10 or 15 people can get satisfaction from it. And I am only ever going to have 10 or 15 people look at it because the images are flipped.

I don't buy that expanding their already extensive codebase for this is going to be a significant security problem.

I know about using imagemagick for bulk image editing. But I am sticking to my guns on this. Apparently what I have created is not that great. If one day I can build something world changing and the images are still upside down then Github's lazy people will be FORCED to fix the problem.

More great news: as of today, Github's "insights" feature only works on Microsoft-sanctioned browser platforms. Attempts to defeat it with browser user agent spoofing have failed. I would start another thread but instead we can pile all our disdain on Github in this one instead.

Make a contribution to get it working in GitLab, if you want to create a service that doesn't have this problem.