FFmpeg deprecated (in Ubuntu)?

[Andy Bircumshaw]

On 26 June 2012, at 00:16, dinkypumpkin wrote:
> ...
> It has been on the radar for a while.  At present, get_iplayer would need a few minor changes to work with avconv.  Not sure when Debian/Ubuntu will force this on us.  It would probably be a good idea to make get_iplayer compatible with avconv by the time of next Ubuntu release, but no idea if it will actually be necessary.

I doubt if there's any hurry to do so - surely the compatibility interface will be kept around for some time to come?

This change is a result of http://ffmpeg.org/ forking to http://libav.org/

http://www.google.com/search?q=ffmpeg%20fork

If we make get_iplayer compatible with avconv then it will surely break downloads for users still using the original ffmpeg.org.

I think it's great that, this change is being brought to Ubuntu & Debian users' attention. If one is committed to that environment and writing a Bash script that may be used for years to come or which will be posted to the Ubuntu forums, then this is important. 

However it's not clear to me that everyone is using the fork, and perhaps it would be a political decision on our behalf to force users to do so. Would it not be advisable to wait until one tine of the fork offers a clear advantage over the other?

aB.