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List:       gentoo-desktop
Subject:    [gentoo-desktop] Re: ffmpeg versions in portage
From:       Duncan <1i5t5.duncan () cox ! net>
Date:       2015-02-19 23:37:50
Message-ID: pan$d09f4$c8dadebb$e674b357$3fae84e () cox ! net
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Brent Busby posted on Thu, 19 Feb 2015 01:38:12 -0600 as excerpted:

> Mostly I just wondered if anyone could tell me if ffmpeg 2.5 itself is
> fundamentally broken in some way.  Sounds like it's fine...

Yes.  What's broken, for both ffmpeg and libav, is that they don't keep 
the same API around very long.  New versions thus break everything that 
depends on them for awhile, until those package in turn are upgraded to 
deal with the new API.

Which wouldn't be a big deal if it were only a handful of packages 
depending on ffmpeg/libav.  But when pretty much every audio/visual 
application out there does... it's not just a big deal, it's a *HUGE* 
deal.

FWIW, while I'm an ffmpeg user myself, the libav upstream has at least 
realized the problem to some extent, and has slowed down the dropping of 
older APIs a bit, leaving them around for a version or two even as they 
continue to move on with new ones.   But I believe that's a fairly new 
policy, only the last couple of release series, and it's limited to only 
a release series or two in "backward compatibility mode" at once, so it's 
still a problem for the slower moving packages depending on it, both 
because it's new enough that the slower moving packages haven't had a 
chance to absorb it yet, and because it's limited to only a release or 
two on a fast-moving base, such that the problem will still exist for the 
packages depending on it that are moving slow enough.

This all came out in the gentoo-dev list ffmpeg/libav default 
discussion.  Truth is, ffmpeg may well be best for ~arch users for 
several reasons including more flexibility and best of both worlds 
leading edge development policies, but sta(b)le users may actually be 
better with libav, at least as this upstream libav policy takes hold, 
given that they're at least making /some/ efforts toward API stability 
now, which can only help newer versions reach sta(b)le faster.

Which means libav may actually be the better gentoo profile default after 
all, despite apparent user preference to ffmpeg, because leading edge 
users are more likely to be willing to change the profile default, while 
sta(b)le users in general prefer that it "just work" with the least 
disturbance, at least after they've done their basic setup.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman


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