python image thumbnail generator?

[Fredrik Lundh]

Paul Rubin wrote

>> (1) Can this be done with python? If so, what module do I need to look 
>> up?
>
> You could do it with PIL, or run jpegtran in an external process.
> jpegtran may be easier.

eh?  are you sure you know what jpegtran does?

JPEGTRAN(1) 
JPEGTRAN(1)

NAME
       jpegtran - lossless transformation of JPEG files

SYNOPSIS
       jpegtran [ options ] [ filename ]

DESCRIPTION
       jpegtran performs various useful transformations of JPEG files.  It 
can
       translate the coded representation from one variant of JPEG to 
another,
       for  example  from baseline JPEG to progressive JPEG or vice versa. 
It
       can also perform some rearrangements of the  image  data,  for 
example
       turning an image from landscape to portrait format by rotation.

       jpegtran  works  by rearranging the compressed data (DCT 
coefficients),
       without ever fully decoding the image /.../

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