The fork authors’ goal is to foster active development of PIL through:
like PIL itself, Pillow is licensed under the MIT-like PIL Software License <http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/license.htm>:
Software License
The Python Imaging Library (PIL) is
Copyright © 1997-2011 by Secret Labs AB
Copyright © 1995-2011 by Fredrik Lundh
By obtaining, using, and/or copying this software and/or its associated documentation, you agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions:
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its associated documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies, and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Secret Labs AB or the author not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.
SECRET LABS AB AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL SECRET LABS AB OR THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
PIL is not setuptools compatible. Please see this Image-SIG post for a more detailed explanation. Also, PIL’s current bi-yearly (or greater) release schedule is too infrequent to accomodate the large number and frequency of issues reported.
Note
Prior to Pillow 2.0.0, very few image code changes were made. Pillow 2.0.0 added Python 3 support and includes many bug fixes from many contributors.
As more time passes since the last PIL release, the likelyhood of a new PIL release decreases. However, we’ve yet to hear an official “PIL is dead” announcement. So if you still want to support PIL, please report issues here first, then open the corresponding Pillow tickets here.
Please provide a link to the PIL ticket so we can track the issue(s) upstream.