[FFmpeg-devel] Broken third party software

Diego Biurrun diego
Sun Sep 14 14:40:42 CEST 2008


Why did I know from the start you would top-post?

On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 01:04:06PM +0200, Frans de Boer wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 2008-09-14 at 06:54 +0200, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> > On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 10:40:35PM +0200, Frans de Boer wrote:
> > > 
> > > I found that any svn version after 15241 causes libquicktime and
> > > cinelerra not to be compiled due to changes in 15270 and later. Probally
> > > there are more products which can no longer be compiled due to FFmpeg
> > > changes.
> > > 
> > > Yes, I know: ffmpeg is not stable, but since it's around already a long
> > > time and many projects are using it, they also depend on it.
> > 
> > False, FFmpeg is not unstable.  The libavcodec version number has been
> > bumped and backwards compatibility broken.  The last time we did this
> > was almost 3 years ago, so don't come complaining now.
> 
> Ok, how else would you call a product which has almost every day changes
> and for which there is no substitute in the form an archive.

FFmpeg changes daily.  Nonetheless the API is stable, this is the first
break in almost 3 years.  For something that undergoes so much
development it sure seems remarkable...

> Suppose, that I started yesterday using FFmpeg because libquicktime
> and/or cinelerra are asking for it. I can not get it compiled and I
> have no clue which SVN version I need to get it compiled - assuming I
> am that advanced that I know how to use the SVN command!?

If you are not advanced enough to use the SVN command, what are you
doing in software development with libquicktime or cinelerra?

> It was not intended as a complaint, but if I should make one: why are
> you not providing a "stable" package? In the rest of the world, it is
> assumed that using code directly out of svn or cvs is regarded as
> development and thus you are on your own risk.

Because nobody has stepped up to do the work.  None of the complainers
has sat down and done something in all those years...

> Also, as developer you have a responsibility towards your "clients",
> unless of course you are involved with FFmpeg for your own benefit only.

Nobody is getting paid to maintain FFmpeg.  We're all in it for the fun
of it and love of multimedia coding...

Diego




More information about the ffmpeg-devel mailing list